Trial Begins for Man Shot by Officers

A Sunland man, who was shot at least seven times by Los Angeles police officers during a drug raid that yielded no drugs, went on trial Tuesday in a case that is under investigation by the FBI for indications of police brutality.

John Gersboll, 40, faces a charge of assault with a firearm on a police officer, possession of a machine gun, possession of a silencer and possession of a destructive device. His wife, Samantha, 45, is also on trial on illegal weapons charges.

FBI spokesman Fred Reagan said the agency was investigating whether Los Angeles police officers had violated the Gersbolls’ civil rights during a raid on their home in the 9900 block of Tujunga Canyon Boulevard.

Narcotics officers Larry Voelker, 43, and David Nila, 42, and several other officers from the Valley bureau went to the Gersboll home about 11 p.m. Jan. 23, 1990, with a search warrant after receiving an anonymous tip that the couple was selling drugs, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sidney Trapp said.

“The officers pounded on the door several times” and identified themselves as police officers, Trapp said.

After receiving no response and hearing movement inside, the officers broke open the door with a hand-held battering ram and entered. The officers saw the Gersbolls running in the house, and when Voelker advanced to a doorway, John Gersboll met him with a gun, Trapp said.

The two were about five feet apart and “the gun was pointed right at Voelker’s body,” Trapp said.

The officer told Gersboll to drop the gun, but the man refused and continued advancing toward officers, Trapp said, so Voelker and Nila shot him.

Scales with a powdery substance were found in the home with plastic bags and weapons, but no drugs, Trapp said.

John Gersboll’s attorney, Malcolm Guleserian, said the Gersbolls were the victims of “a vicious, callous act” by police. “All the bullet wounds are in his back except for the first one,” Guleserian said.

The officers never identified themselves as police and the Gersbolls were terrified to hear someone pounding on their door so late at night, Guleserian said. “They were screaming, ‘Who is it?’ ” Guleserian said. “Initially, Gersboll was relieved when he saw it was the police. He thought he was being robbed.”

Gersboll had already dropped the gun and was standing with his hands at his side in a “passive position” when he was shot, Guleserian said.

The Gersbolls were gunsmiths and had a federal permit to sell weapons from their home, according to court documents. Guleserian said the couple had never dealt drugs, that the scales were used to weigh gunpowder for reloading ammunition, and the plastic bags to store gun parts.

Guleserian and Arthur C. Wynn, public defender for Samantha Gersboll, have likened the case to the Rodney G. King incident.

Although King is black and the Gersbolls white, police “don’t care what color” suspects are, Guleserian said. “They beat everybody.”

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab emphasized to prospective jurors that “this case is in no way connected with the so-called Rodney King incident” and asked if they would have difficulty keeping the two cases separate.

All prospective jurors said they would have no problem separating the two incidents.