The Justice Department’s Dubious Attempt to Erase a Police Officer’s Federal Excessive Force Conviction
Over the last several days, the Justice Department has attempted to vacate the conviction of a police officer the Department’s career prosecutors had convicted of using excessive force. Because I believe it is important to hold police officers accountable when they violate the law and harm victims, I’ve teamed up with well-known civil rights lawyer, Caree Harper, to fight the Department’s dismissal effort. As Ms. Harper and I explain in our brief filed late last night, the Department has made no real showing of any reason why that properly obtained conviction should now be erased.
The case involves L.A. County Sheriff’s Department deputy Trevor Kirk, whom a jury convicted in February of a felony civil rights violation for assaulting and pepper spraying an elderly woman. The relevant events were captured on video.
On June 24, 2023, while responding to a call for service at a grocery store in Lancaster and handcuffing another individual, Kirk encountered J.H. She was seated in her car, and then left her car to film Kirk with her phone. Then, Kirk approached Victim J.H. Without giving her any commands, Kirk attempted to grab her phone. J.H. turned away from Kirk, meaning Kirk was unable to seize the phone. So Kirk grabbed J.H. by her arm, hooked his left hand behind her neck, and violently threw her to the ground. J.H. told Kirk, “It’s already on YouTube Live,” implying that her video had already been made public. Kirk responded, “Stop, I don’t give a sh** . . . .” Kirk then stuck his knee on J.H.’s shoulder. When J.H. yelled at Kirk to “stop,” Kirk cocked his right arm back with a clenched fist and said, “Stop or you’re gonna get punched in the face.”
J.H. told Kirk that she would sue him if he punched her. Kirk then pressed his knee into J.H.’s neck. J.H. said, “Get your neck off my . . . off my . . . I can’t breathe.” While on top of Victim J.H., Kirk used his LASD radio to misleadingly report that he was “in a fight.” Shortly thereafter, without giving any additional commands to J.H., Kirk sprayed J.H. twice in the face with “pepper spray.” As a result, J.H. received medical treatment at a hospital approximately 40 minutes after the assault. In addition to physical pain, J.H. suffered various physical injuries.
The indictment recounted the foregoing facts and charged Kirk wit
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