L.A. County jail inmate awarded $405,000 in pepper-spray attack

A federal court jury Thursday awarded $405,000 to a man who alleged that three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies assaulted him in jail, pepper-spraying his anus and groin.

Alejandro Franco, a 23-year-old inmate at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility at the time of the alleged 2007 attack, told jurors that the deputies escorted him from his cell to an outdoor recreational center, where he said he was struck multiple times.

The deputies, none of whom are still on active duty, were upset with him, Franco said, because he had cursed at one after being declined fresh laundry.

When Franco refused to apologize, he said deputies pulled his boxers down and assaulted him with the pepper spray.

“I felt hollow inside,” said Franco, who described the alleged incident as a sexual assault.

One deputy placed a Taser near Franco’s head and revved it, the former inmate testified. “Boo,” Franco recalled him saying to the laughter of the others.

Two of the three deputies, Davie Chang and Anthony Pimentel, were relieved of duty with pay after the incident. The third, Kris Cordova, is no longer with the department. Each invoked the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination to all questions during the trial. Their attorney said the men are innocent of any wrongdoing.

The jury’s decision in favor of Franco comes just about a week after prosecutors declined to file felony criminal charges against the three deputies, citing insufficient evidence and an unreliable witness in Franco.

In their decision to not press charges of assault by a public officer, prosecutors acknowledged that Franco’s boxers had an orange stain that when analyzed showed components of pepper spray. A criminalist determined the stains were deposited on the inside surface of the fabric, according to the memo.

But prosecutors asserted that the residue may have come from a five-hour jailhouse disturbance a month before the alleged assault in which deputies used pepper spray throughout the facility multiple times. When an investigator came to retrieve Franco’s boxers after the alleged assault, the inmate said he had kept them hidden for two days so they wouldn’t be retrieved by the deputies who attacked him. But prosecutors concluded that Franco may have had that pair of boxers hidden for about a month after the jailhouse disturbance.

Franco’s credibility, prosecutors said, was damaged by inconsistent statements, and a potential exaggeration of residual back pain from the alleged assault. Franco’s lawyer said Thursday’s verdict vindicated his client.

“This jury really sent a message out that this clearly did happen,” said attorney Arnoldo Casillas. “No jury is going to tolerate police officers putting themselves above the law.”

Edwin Rathbun, an attorney for the deputies, said he was frustrated that the jury was kept unaware that the district attorney’s office opted not to file criminal charges.

The Los Angeles County counsel’s office said Thursday it was yet to be decided if the county will pay the award on behalf of the deputies.

robert.faturechi@latimes.com