Police officer accused of excessive force gets permission to plead guilty to a less serious crime; original charge was a felony.
L.A. cop gets a slap on the wrist for excessive force, thanks to Trump's U.S. Attorney
In a bizarre turn of events, a Los Angeles police officer, Trevor Kirk, will serve just four months for using excessive force - a far cry from the potential ten-year prison sentence he could have faced for a felony conviction. This lenient punishment comes after the new Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney, Bill Essayli, offered an unusual plea deal.
Kirk was caught on camera tackling and pepper-spraying an elderly woman while filming a man being handcuffed outside a supermarket. Initially, a federal jury found Kirk guilty of a felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law. However, when Essayli took office, federal prosecutors offered Kirk a plea deal - a dismissal of the felony in exchange for him pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, and a recommendation of one year of probation. A judge agreed to the reduced charge, but Kirk was sentenced to four months in prison on Monday.
Essayli claimed that prosecutors had offered a similar plea deal under the prior administration, which Kirk had refused. In a video posted online, Essayli justified his decision by stating that he had "reviewed this case extensively and thoroughly" and believed that Kirk's actions fell on the lower end of the excessive force spectrum. He added that the woman did not suffer "serious bodily injury," and that the case was prosecuted improperly.
However, some former prosecutors and police conviction experts have criticized Essayli's move as highly unusual. Jeffrey Bellin, a former federal prosecutor, noted that there's usually new evidence of innocence for such a plea deal – not just the same evidence from a different perspective.
Caree Harper, the woman Kirk injured, claimed in court filings that the federal government altered its account of the incident to make Kirk's actions seem justified. She alleged that the government's new plea agreement claimed the woman "swatted" at Kirk and "resisted," which was unproven in the criminal trial or testified to in civil litigation.
Despite the controversy, Kirk's attorny, Tom Yu, planned to appeal the decision. The LA County Sheriff's Department has justified keeping Kirk employed but relieved from duty while they conduct an internal investigation.
Kirk's case is the latest example of the Trump administration's plan to take a lighter hand in federal government policing oversight. The Justice Department has announced the cancellation of proposed consent decrees reached with Minneapolis and Louisville, and the retraction of findings in six other sweeping investigations into police departments. This move has been criticized for its potential impact on justice and accountability in such cases.
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