Post by Shuftin on Jul 22, 2006 1:51:44 GMT -5
It didn't take long for prosecutors to find police officers blameless for having raided the wrong Moreno Valley house in October 1993 and exchanged gunfire with Albert Michael Heikkila.
But it took seven years for them to decide that Heikkila really didn't do much of anything wrong either.
What started out as a charge of attempted murder of police officers and later changed to a charge of assault on police officers ended up as a misdemeanor disturbing the peace conviction Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court.
Prosecution and defense attorneys agreed that the longer the felony assault case against Heikkila dragged on, the weaker it appeared.
Heikkila pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and Judge J. Thompson Hanks sentenced him to the eight days he spent in jail after his arrest. He has been free without bail ever since.
Heikkila, 53, wasn't the target of the West County Narcotics Task Force members who converged on his Bay Avenue home at 6 a.m. on Oct. 14, 1993.
The search warrant was for a neighboring home on the same lot. It was the home of a Vagos motorcycle gang member who was suspected of drug dealing.
Unaware who the raiding officers were, Heikkila fired at them, said his attorney, Virginia Blumenthal. They fired back, grazing his head with one round and hitting his shoulder with another.
At the outset, prosecutors took a hard line, saying Heikkila knew or reasonably should have known police were at his door. Heikkila contended that the officers never identified themselves and that he had thought they were drug dealers.
When Heikkila was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and ultimately charged with assault on police officers, "I was outraged," Blumenthal said. "I thought it was ludicrous."
Yet, the case dragged on for years, partly because the prosecutor kept changing.
Blumenthal said it was a "loser case" for the Riverside County district attorney's office, so it was continually handed off and shuffled aside. During the seven years, one prosecutor assigned to the case became a state assemblyman. Another became an assistant district attorney in San Bernardino County. Yet another became a Riverside County Superior Court judge.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio said the case initially appeared to be solid. But over the years, "it was less and less clear what Mr. Heikkila did or didn't know about the people coming through his door," he said.
"We believe justice was served in this case," Soccio said.
As far as the officers' conduct, they were cleared early on.
"We don't believe the officers did anything wrong," Soccio said. "There were two houses on one lot, and it was tough to know that going in there."
Heikkila fired the first shot, which drew the gunfire from the officers outside, the prosecutor said. The officers were dressed in what Blumenthal called "ninja suits," the black garb designed for stealth in drug raids.
Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said the case involves a question of self-defense.
"If this guy sees black-clad ninja-style intruders invading his home and he neither knows they are police or has any reasonable basis for understanding who they are, he clearly acted reasonably," Goldman said.
He acknowledged that seven years from filing to disposition is an extraordinarily long time for a criminal case that ended as a misdemeanor.
Blumenthal said her client is greatly relieved that the criminal case is over and he no longer faces the threat of prison.
"It was not a good case for the prosecution, but he was still scared," she said.
Now that the criminal case has been settled, Heikkila and others who were in his house at the time of the raid are pursuing a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Riverside County, Moreno Valley and several law-enforcement officers.
But it took seven years for them to decide that Heikkila really didn't do much of anything wrong either.
What started out as a charge of attempted murder of police officers and later changed to a charge of assault on police officers ended up as a misdemeanor disturbing the peace conviction Thursday in Riverside County Superior Court.
Prosecution and defense attorneys agreed that the longer the felony assault case against Heikkila dragged on, the weaker it appeared.
Heikkila pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and Judge J. Thompson Hanks sentenced him to the eight days he spent in jail after his arrest. He has been free without bail ever since.
Heikkila, 53, wasn't the target of the West County Narcotics Task Force members who converged on his Bay Avenue home at 6 a.m. on Oct. 14, 1993.
The search warrant was for a neighboring home on the same lot. It was the home of a Vagos motorcycle gang member who was suspected of drug dealing.
Unaware who the raiding officers were, Heikkila fired at them, said his attorney, Virginia Blumenthal. They fired back, grazing his head with one round and hitting his shoulder with another.
At the outset, prosecutors took a hard line, saying Heikkila knew or reasonably should have known police were at his door. Heikkila contended that the officers never identified themselves and that he had thought they were drug dealers.
When Heikkila was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and ultimately charged with assault on police officers, "I was outraged," Blumenthal said. "I thought it was ludicrous."
Yet, the case dragged on for years, partly because the prosecutor kept changing.
Blumenthal said it was a "loser case" for the Riverside County district attorney's office, so it was continually handed off and shuffled aside. During the seven years, one prosecutor assigned to the case became a state assemblyman. Another became an assistant district attorney in San Bernardino County. Yet another became a Riverside County Superior Court judge.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio said the case initially appeared to be solid. But over the years, "it was less and less clear what Mr. Heikkila did or didn't know about the people coming through his door," he said.
"We believe justice was served in this case," Soccio said.
As far as the officers' conduct, they were cleared early on.
"We don't believe the officers did anything wrong," Soccio said. "There were two houses on one lot, and it was tough to know that going in there."
Heikkila fired the first shot, which drew the gunfire from the officers outside, the prosecutor said. The officers were dressed in what Blumenthal called "ninja suits," the black garb designed for stealth in drug raids.
Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said the case involves a question of self-defense.
"If this guy sees black-clad ninja-style intruders invading his home and he neither knows they are police or has any reasonable basis for understanding who they are, he clearly acted reasonably," Goldman said.
He acknowledged that seven years from filing to disposition is an extraordinarily long time for a criminal case that ended as a misdemeanor.
Blumenthal said her client is greatly relieved that the criminal case is over and he no longer faces the threat of prison.
"It was not a good case for the prosecution, but he was still scared," she said.
Now that the criminal case has been settled, Heikkila and others who were in his house at the time of the raid are pursuing a federal civil-rights lawsuit against Riverside County, Moreno Valley and several law-enforcement officers.
