New U.S. attorney in LA moves to strike jury's felony civil rights verdict against cop
Four prosecutors assigned to the case withdrew hours after their new boss finalized a rare "post-trial plea agreement" that calls for a misdemeanor conviction and no prison.
The new top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles is allowing a former sheriff’s deputy convicted by a jury of a felony civil rights violation against a Black woman to instead plead guilty to a misdemeanor and return to policing.
A plea agreement filed late Thursday says if Trevor Kirk pleads guilty to misdemeanor deprivation of rights under color of law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will “move to strike the jury’s finding” that he injured his victim, which made his crime a felony.
The four assistant U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Kirk withdrew from the case on Friday. They did not sign the plea agreement.
An attorney for Kirk’s victim called the deal “a slap in the face of justice.”
“I’m not just disappointed. I’m appalled at the notion that the new administration thinks they can overturn a lawful jury verdict. This is not a case that has not been tried in front of a jury,” Caree Harper, a solo practitioner in Santa Monica, told me in a phone call Friday.
Kirk’s lawyer Tom Yu declined comment on Friday.
Nick Wilson, president of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Professional Association, said they “are encouraged by the recent development in Deputy Trevor Kirk’s case and will continue to monitor the upcoming sentencing closely.”
“This action sends a powerful message — not just in Trevor’s case, but to law enforcement officers across the state and nation who too often feel abandoned or politically targeted in today’s climate,” Wilson said.
Kirk faced about nine years in prison under U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines for his felony conviction, but his misdemeanor conviction carries a maximum of one year. However, Essayli and Keenan agreed to recommend only one year of probation. They also aren’t barring him from working in law enforcement.
But as with other plea agreements, the judge who will sentence Kirk doesn’t have to accept prosecutors’ recommendation of probation only. And Kirk’s agreement specifies that the judge still can consider the jury’s felony finding.
The judge in Kirk’s case is U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, a 1985 Ronald Reagan appointee who last month rejected prosecutors’ request to postpone Kirk’s sentencing three months so Essayli can review the case.
Harper said she has “faith in Judge Wilson.”
“This is not acceptable,” she said, adding that the Trump administration is “putting us way back into the 1800s with this crap.”
The agreement lists only Bilal “Bill” Essayli, the interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Kennan as prosecutors.
The three assistant U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Kirk — Eli Alcaraz, Michael Morse and Brian Faerstein — are not named, which is rare. Nor is Lindsey Greer Dotson, the chief of the Criminal Division, or Cassie Palmer, the chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Division. None replied to an email on Friday asking why.
Alcaraz, Morse, Faerstein and Palmer formally withdrew from the case on Friday about 1:30 p.m. Dotson can’t withdraw because she never formally appeared.
Spokesman Ciaran McEvoy told me the office “has no comment beyond what is in our court filing.”
Keenan is based in Santa Ana and has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for 24 years. He wasn’t involved in Kirk’s case before the plea deal, but he appears to be helping with cases Essayli is reviewing: On Monday, he unsuccessfully asked a judge to release from prison former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who pleaded guilty to tax crimes and lying to federal agents in what previous prosecutors said was a Russian-influenced plot against now-former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Essayli, 39, is a Trump loyalist and former assistant U.S. attorney who earned a reputation in the California State Assembly as a bombastic politician who reveled in riling Democrats. He resigned last month to take over the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which is the most populous federal court district in the United States. He knows Wilson, who in addition to the sheriff’s association leads a first responder advocacy group that’s been criticizing Kirk’s prosecution. Essayli endorsed Wilson for the California State Assembly in 2024 and donated $2,500 to his election campaign.
Essayli’s first public move as U.S. attorney last month was to announce a task force that will investigate fraud and corruption in Los Angeles homeless services. He also announced an increased focus on immigration crimes; a press release this week touting a surge in immigration prosecutions — 347 since Jan. 20, after nine in 2024 and eight in 2023 — quoted him saying the office under his predecessor “abdicated its duties” by failing to prosecute more illegal immigrants.
Essayli’s review of cases filed before he took over has been less publicized.
McEvoy, the office spokesman, won’t say which cases Essayli is reviewing, and Keenan in court on Monday cast the effort as merely an extension of a case review procedure implemented under Martin Estrada, who was the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles under Biden.
Estrada established the committee in 2023 to review claims from convicted defendants who say they are innocent. He also established an executive position to oversee it. The current executive is Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathy Yu, who is not listed on Kirk’s plea agreement.
Estrada, now a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in L.A., declined to comment on Friday.
A federal grand jury indicted Kirk 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.
Kirk and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Felipe Alejandre, Jr. detained Barnes without incident. But prosecutors said he was “unjustifiably violent” with Houseton, who was filming Barnes’ arrest and told the deputies they were on YouTube Live. Kirk ended up slamming Houseton to the ground, putting his knee in her back before he threatened to punch her, then pepper sprayed her face twice.
Judge Wilson rejected Kirk’s motion for acquittal last month and said the jury’s decision that Kirk acted excessively is supported by “sufficient evidence.”
Along with 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.
Law enforcement groups in Southern California protested Kirk’s conviction, including a boycott of the recent Baker to Las Vegas relay by 20 Los Angeles County sheriff’s stations. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is a prominent supporter of Kirk, but the current sheriff, Robert Luna, announced Kirk’s firing and called his actions “disturbing” at a press conference in 2023.
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.
Prosecutors first indicated they may change their stance on Kirk’s case when they filed a stipulation with his attorneys on April 10 that said Essayli “has requested time to review significant matters pending in the Office, including this matter.” Judge Wilson said it’s “unusual” for prosecutors to request a sentencing continuance unless a defendant is cooperating, and he said Essayli has plenty of time before the May 19 sentencing for his review.
Under the new plea deal, Wilson is to hold a change of plea hearing, then hold a sentencing hearing after prosecutors and Kirk’s lawyers file their sentencing recommendations.
Court documents:
Jan. 29 prosecutors’ trial memorandum
March 17 prosecutors’ opposition
April 10 stipulation to continue sentencing
April 13 victim’s objection to sentencing delay
May 1 post-trial plea agreement
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Judge Wilson is nobody's fool. He's an excellent judge. I don't think he'll take this lightly.