Judge rejects new U.S. attorney's request to delay deputy's civil rights sentencing
A jury's conviction of a former sheriff's deputy for excessive force is one of the cases being reviewed by Bill Essayli, the new Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.
A federal judge in Los Angeles has refused to delay the sentencing of a sheriff’s deputy convicted of assaulting an unarmed Black woman during a robbery call at a grocery store, despite a request from prosecutors who said their new boss wants to review the case.
New U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles Bill Essayli wasn’t in court on Monday when U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson asked why he needed an extra three months to “review” Trevor Kirk’s case, but a prosecutor told the judge he’s reviewing other cases, too.
“I didn’t quite understand what a ‘review’ was,” Wilson said. The judge said it’s “unusual” for prosecutors to request a sentencing continuance unless a defendant is cooperating.
“I don’t want you to, you know, be compelled to step out of line there and say something that is better left to the confines of the United States attorney,” said Wilson, a 1985 Ronald Reagan appointee. But, “Isn’t four weeks enough?”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli Alcaraz said he’s “been told” that Essayli “is not just considering this, but other matters.”
“Your Honor, I’ve been told that the United States attorney would like up to three months,” said Alcaraz, who is prosecuting Kirk with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Faerstein and Michael Morse.
Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, did not respond to an email asking about the other cases Essayli is reviewing.
On Monday, Kirk’s lawyer Edward M. Robinson told Wilson, “There’s been a lot of publicity with respect to this case, and we’re getting a number of letters on behalf of Mr. Kirk.” The defense wants more time to prepare, but, “it doesn’t require until August,” said Robinson, who represents Kirk with attorneys Brian A. Robinson and Tom Yu.
Wilson said because the jury convicted Kirk 10 weeks ago, sentencing him in four weeks as currently scheduled gives prosecutors plenty of preparation time.
“The motion for continuance is denied, and the sentencing will go forward on May 19. Thank you,” Wilson said.
‘Unjustifiably violent’ versus ‘entirely consistent with his training’
A jury on Feb. 6 convicted Kirk of one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law following a three-day trial.
He was indicted in September 2024, 13 months after he responded to a robbery call at a Winco grocery store on June 24, 2023, in Lancaster, about 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles, and saw Jacy Houseton, 58, and Damon Barnes, 56, who matched the description of the reported robbers.
Barnes exited a black Toyota holding a cake that prosecutors said he lawfully bought. Kirk and his partner Deputy Felipe Alejandre, Jr., detained him without incident, “Using de-escalation techniques and communicating effectively, as they were trained to do.”
But, prosecutors wrote in a recent filing, “The evidence showed, from multiple angles and perspectives, that defendant took a starkly different — and unjustifiably violent — approach toward J.H.”
Prosecutors said Houseton, who is suing Kirk under her full name, was filming Barnes’ arrest when she told deputies, “By law, you have to tell him the reason you detaining him” and said they were on YouTube Live. Kirk “aggressively approached” her and tried to grab her phone, then grabbed her arm. Houseton yelled, “You can’t touch me,” prosecutors wrote, and she “reactively pulled her arm away and attempted to swipe away defendant’s grasp.”
Kirk slammed Houseton to the ground and put his knee in her back, “pushed her head to the concrete, and yelled at her to get on the ground, even though she was already there,” prosecutors wrote. The woman told Kirk his actions were “already on YouTube Live,” and Kirk closed his fist and said, “Stop or you’re going to get punched in the face.” Kirk told dispatchers he was “in a fight,” so Houseton said, “I can’t breathe” and “There’s no fight” and “You threw me down to the ground” as Kirk told her to stop.
“Seconds later, without any intervening commands and with J.H. neither resisting nor threatening defendant in any way, defendant pepper sprayed J.H. in the face twice,” prosecutors wrote.
Houseton and Barnes settled their lawsuit against Kirk, Alejandre and the sheriff's office for $3 million, according to a recent civil filing, and are awaiting approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Kirk’s lawyers described Houseton’s actions as “resistant” “and even assaultive” and said Kirk “was under no policy obligation to ‘de-escalate’ prior to his lawful detention of J.H. who, as Deputy Kirk knew at the time, was a suspect in a robbery in progress who had been fighting with store security.”
“Upon J.H.’s resistance to this lawful detention, Deputy Kirk’s use of the takedown and [pepper] spray was entirely consistent with his training and not excessive,” according to a 12-page motion to set aside the verdict and enter a judgment of acquittal.
Kirk grabbed Houseton’s arm after she hit him “to ensure she would not attempt to hit him again.”
“Despite being told to ‘stop’ a number of times, J.H. continued to actively resist and, as trained, Deputy Kirk performed a takedown to overcome J.H.’s resistance,” according to the defense.
Kirk’s threat to punch Houseton if she continued resisting was a “ruse” done in accordance with his training, and he still resorted to lesser force when she failed to comply by pepper spraying her instead of punching her. He pepper sprayed her a second time because he initially “missed her eyes.”
“This series of events, played out for the jury ad nauseam through the introduction of multiple videos, does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Deputy Kirk used excessive force,” Kirk’s lawyers wrote. “Rather, it proves that Deputy Kirk used the minimal amount of force necessary to execute his duties as a law enforcement officer, as he was trained, and detain a resistant robbery suspect.”
But Judge Wilson said the jury’s decision that Kirk acted excessively is supported by “sufficient evidence.”
In addition to video from Kirk’s body-worn camera, prosecutors “provided evidence that Defendant’s use of force violated LASD policy — a fact the jury could reasonably rely on when concluding that his use of force was objectively unreasonable,” Wilson wrote in a five-page order issued April 18.
Wilson cited testimony from Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Ismeal Opina, who said deputies “are trained to use force as a ‘last resort’ and that they are obligated, when feasible, to use de-escalation techniques and “alternates other than force.”
“The jury also heard testimony that deputies are trained to only use pepper spray when they encounter ‘active resistance plus a threat,’” the judge wrote.
Wilson is legally required to view the evidence “in the light most favorable” to prosecutors because of the jury’s guilty verdict. In doing so, “the jury could reasonably find that J.H. did not swing at Defendant.”
“Rather, Defendant grabbed J.H.’s arm first, and then J.H. reflexively swiped her hand down through the air without hitting Defendant,” according to Wilson’s order.
The judge acknowledged in a footnote that Houseton “was not immediately complying” with Kirk’s instruction to stop moving.
“But the question is not whether the Court would have found that J.H. was actively resisting. The question is whether there was sufficient evidence for the jury to conclude that J.H. did not actively resist,” Wilson wrote. “The answer to that question, based on bodycam footage the Court must interpret in the light most favorable to the Government, is yes—there was sufficient evidence to conclude that J.H. did not actively resist.”
‘A potentially significant development’
Prosecutors had already filed their opposition to Kirk’s acquittal motion when President Donald Trump appointed Essayli as interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. The first indication that Essayli may view the case differently from his trial prosecutors occurred April 10 when Alcaraz filed a stipulation with Kirk’s attorneys that says Essayli “has requested time to review significant matters pending in the Office, including this matter.”
“The requested continuance would allow U.S. Attorney Essayli the opportunity to review the facts and circumstances of this case, including facts bearing on sentencing, and confer with the trial team in advance of the filing date for the United States’ sentencing position,” according to the filing.
Houseton’s attorney asked Wilson to sentence Kirk as scheduled because she “wishes to move on with her life and potentially move out of state but is unable to until the proceedings are concluded.”
“Any further delay in these proceedings is preventing Victim J.H. to move forward with her life. Without an imposition of a sentence of Defendant Kirk, Victim J.H. cannot regain her sense of dignity,” according to the filing from attorney Christian Contreras, who represents the woman with attorney Caree Harper.
Prosecutors haven’t publicly stated why Essayli wants to review the case, but law enforcement groups in Southern California have been protesting Kirk’s conviction, including 20 Los Angeles County sheriff’s stations that boycotted the recent Baker to Las Vegas relay. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva attended the trial and was seen hugging Kirk as he cried after the verdict.
Not everyone supports Kirk, however: He was fired, and the current sheriff, Robert Luna, called his actions “disturbing” at a press conference in 2023 and said he notified “our federal monitors” because the sheriff’s station in Antelope Valley that serves Lancaster is subject to a consent decree as part of a 2015 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
An LASD press release also said Kirk’s actions were “completely contrary to the values and standards upheld by the Sheriff's Department.”
“Law enforcement officers not only take an oath to uphold the law but are held to the highest standards of accountability and integrity,” the department said in a statement. “No deputy is above the law and any abuse of power which violates the public’s trust will not be tolerated.”
Last week, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association called Essayli’s request to delay the sentencing “a potentially significant development in the fight for justice” for Kirk.
“The review by U.S. Attorney Essayli signals a potential turning point,” according to a press release. “LAPSA, which represents thousands of deputies across Los Angeles County’s 46 stations, sees this as a step forward restoring justice for Kirk and protecting deputies from prosecutions that undermine their ability to serve.”
If Essayli is sympathetic to Kirk, however, he doesn’t have many options now that Judge Wilson has rejected Kirk’s acquittal motion. Kirk faces a maximum 10 years in prison at sentencing.
Essayli can have the case prosecutors recommend a lenient sentence, but the ultimate sentence still is up to Wilson. He could move to dismiss the case, but Wilson would have to sign off on it. Prosecutors also could change their stance on the case when Kirk appeals to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but the judges still decide what to do. Sentencing recommendations are due next month.
I discussed the case with journalist Roland Martin on his YouTube show on Tuesday. Martin believes Trump will pardon Kirk after he’s sentenced.
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