Post by WaTcHeR on Jan 26, 2006 12:11:49 GMT -5
01/25/2006 - SWEETWATER - Cops found not guilty of beating teenA jury acquitted two Sweetwater police officers accused of beating a teenage suspect and lying about it in their reports.
Officer Allen St. Germain sat stone-faced, staring at the court clerk as she read the jury's decision.
Not guilty of the battery. Not guilty of the official misconduct.
Before she could even begin reading the decision in his sergeant's case, St. Germain began sobbing in silence.
Two and a half years after Peter Daniel claimed St. Germain and Sgt. George Alvarez brutally beat him, more than a year after prosecutors charged both with beating him and lying about it, six days after the trial began, the case was over.
Alvarez silently mouthed ''Thank you'' to the jurors.
The jury took less than an hour to hand down the verdict.
Afterward, Alvarez's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he figured the jury just didn't buy Daniel's story.
''It's clear that the jury saw through Peter Daniel,'' he said. ``He lied 12, 15, 20 times on the stand.''
Daniel claimed Alvarez and St. Germain beat him when he told them he didn't know anything about a stolen personal watercraft. The personal watercraft was taken from the home of another Sweetwater officer.
Daniel testified that he finally told the police to contact a friend about the stolen personal watercraft, even though he didn't believe his friend had it.
He just wanted to get the officers to stop kicking and punching him, he said.
The officers took Daniel in Mayor Manuel Maroño's car to find the friend, who was taken into custody but never charged. Maroño was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
A couple hours later, officers called for an ambulance because Daniel didn't look good. Doctors found he had a lacerated liver and spleen and was hemorrhaging internally.
In his closing statements, Sharpstein urged the jury to focus on inconsistencies in the various statements Daniel made about that evening in 2003. He pointed to the fact that Daniel admitted lying about being able to work after he was injured.
''If people tell different stories up and down, it's not the truth,'' Sharpstein said. ``Beyond a reasonable doubt, you're going to believe him? And not believe what my client writes under oath? A sworn police officer?''
Sharpstein's and St. Germain's attorney, Doug Hartman, insisted that Daniel invented the story so he could sue the city. Sweetwater settled the civil suit, paying Daniel $2 million.
''He's already gotten his reward in this case,'' Hartman told the jury. ``Don't help him any more.''
Prosecutor Isis Perez told the jury to consider all the Sweetwater officers and employees who were at the tiny station that night yet said they didn't see anything.
''This is a code of silence,'' she said. ``See no evil. Maybe hear some, but speak no evil.''
She also questioned whether any of the defense's three theories of how Daniel was injured made sense.
Alvarez wrote in a report that Daniel lunged for his gun that night and that he was forced to punch him.
The next day, St. Germain wrote a report saying that Daniel hurt himself by throwing himself against the walls of his holding cell.
But no one in the station that night saw either alleged incident.
Meanwhile, the defense argued that another inmate beat Daniel.
''It doesn't make sense,'' Perez told the jury.
After the verdict was read, Perez had little to say.
''We're disappointed with the verdict, but the jury has spoken and the system moves on,'' she said.
A doctor who testified in the trial said Daniel could not have sustained those injuries by throwing himself against the walls of his cell. But the doctor also said he couldn't have had those injuries for hours, throwing into question Daniel's version of events.
Sharpstein said both officers are expecting to go back to work in Sweetwater.
Wednesday's verdict has no bearing on the $2 million civil settlement.
Officer Allen St. Germain sat stone-faced, staring at the court clerk as she read the jury's decision.
Not guilty of the battery. Not guilty of the official misconduct.
Before she could even begin reading the decision in his sergeant's case, St. Germain began sobbing in silence.
Two and a half years after Peter Daniel claimed St. Germain and Sgt. George Alvarez brutally beat him, more than a year after prosecutors charged both with beating him and lying about it, six days after the trial began, the case was over.
Alvarez silently mouthed ''Thank you'' to the jurors.
The jury took less than an hour to hand down the verdict.
Afterward, Alvarez's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said he figured the jury just didn't buy Daniel's story.
''It's clear that the jury saw through Peter Daniel,'' he said. ``He lied 12, 15, 20 times on the stand.''
Daniel claimed Alvarez and St. Germain beat him when he told them he didn't know anything about a stolen personal watercraft. The personal watercraft was taken from the home of another Sweetwater officer.
Daniel testified that he finally told the police to contact a friend about the stolen personal watercraft, even though he didn't believe his friend had it.
He just wanted to get the officers to stop kicking and punching him, he said.
The officers took Daniel in Mayor Manuel Maroño's car to find the friend, who was taken into custody but never charged. Maroño was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
A couple hours later, officers called for an ambulance because Daniel didn't look good. Doctors found he had a lacerated liver and spleen and was hemorrhaging internally.
In his closing statements, Sharpstein urged the jury to focus on inconsistencies in the various statements Daniel made about that evening in 2003. He pointed to the fact that Daniel admitted lying about being able to work after he was injured.
''If people tell different stories up and down, it's not the truth,'' Sharpstein said. ``Beyond a reasonable doubt, you're going to believe him? And not believe what my client writes under oath? A sworn police officer?''
Sharpstein's and St. Germain's attorney, Doug Hartman, insisted that Daniel invented the story so he could sue the city. Sweetwater settled the civil suit, paying Daniel $2 million.
''He's already gotten his reward in this case,'' Hartman told the jury. ``Don't help him any more.''
Prosecutor Isis Perez told the jury to consider all the Sweetwater officers and employees who were at the tiny station that night yet said they didn't see anything.
''This is a code of silence,'' she said. ``See no evil. Maybe hear some, but speak no evil.''
She also questioned whether any of the defense's three theories of how Daniel was injured made sense.
Alvarez wrote in a report that Daniel lunged for his gun that night and that he was forced to punch him.
The next day, St. Germain wrote a report saying that Daniel hurt himself by throwing himself against the walls of his holding cell.
But no one in the station that night saw either alleged incident.
Meanwhile, the defense argued that another inmate beat Daniel.
''It doesn't make sense,'' Perez told the jury.
After the verdict was read, Perez had little to say.
''We're disappointed with the verdict, but the jury has spoken and the system moves on,'' she said.
A doctor who testified in the trial said Daniel could not have sustained those injuries by throwing himself against the walls of his cell. But the doctor also said he couldn't have had those injuries for hours, throwing into question Daniel's version of events.
Sharpstein said both officers are expecting to go back to work in Sweetwater.
Wednesday's verdict has no bearing on the $2 million civil settlement.
