White Loaded Jury Looks the Other Way in Case of Homeless Black Man Beaten by LA County Deputies

From [HERE] and [HERE]  An Orange County federal jury could not reach a unanimous decision today in the civil case of a unarmed homeless man severely beaten in Santa Ana by two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department transit deputies in November 2009.

U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter accepted the jury foreman's report that there was a hopeless deadlock, thanked the eight members of the citizen's panel (five women and three men) for their service and, after consulting with each side in excessive force lawsuit, dismissed the jurors late this afternoon.

The jury had favored the defense of deputies Scott C. Harper and Brian Sherred, who claimed their use of force was justified because the suspect didn't rapidly comply with their orders to raise his hands.

Harper conceded in a deposition he hit Jones on the face with two “hammer blows,” while Deputy Brian Sherred kneed him twice in the ribs — both deputies accusing Jones of refusing to remove his hands from inside his waistband. As a result of the beating Jones had a fractured skull and bruised ribs.

The deputies, in police reports and court depositions, say they initially contacted Jones because he appeared to be urinating in public. Jones, however, insisted in a deposition that he put his hands up. 

While rolling with Jones on the concrete, the deputies testified, they saw him put a small rock that appeared to be crack cocaine in his mouth. However, they struck out on this one: Toxicology reports showed no trace of  narcotics in Jones’ system. 

That’s part of the reason that Orange County Deputy District Attorney Laurie Hungerford declined to file charges against Jones for resisting arrest and possession of drugs. Hungerford also noted that the deputies did not have probable cause to detain Jones in the first place.

“Because (subject) was standing by a wall in daylight when officers could not see (subject’s) hands is not sufficient probable cause to detain (subject),” Hungerford wrote in legal papers.

Jones' legal team of Jerry L. Steering and Alexander J. Perez had argued during a four-day trial that Harper and Sherred fabricated post-incident reports to justify the excessive use of force that put Jones in the hospital and required emergency surgeries.

On behalf of the officers, deputy Los Angeles county counsel Joseph Langston, a near perfect Rob Lowe look/sound-alike, argued that Jones caused the attack by assaulting the officers and acting mysteriously.

Immediately following Judge Carter's case-ending announcement, Jones said that he was ready for a new trail.

In its final deliberations, the jury voted 7-1 in favor of Harper and Sherred.

Jones--who, though homeless at the time of the incident, works two jobs and hopes to get a degree from Orange Coast College--is African American; the deputies are white (terribly pale, actually); and post-55, white folks comprised most of the jury.