Jury Refuses to Charge Deputies in 4 Killings

After three months of deliberations, the Los Angeles County Grand Jury on Friday refused to bring criminal charges against five sheriff’s deputies in connection with four fatal summertime shootings that have embroiled the department in allegations of police brutality.

The decision not to indict the deputies brought a subdued reaction from Sheriff Sherman Block but an immediate outcry from department critics. Civil rights lawyers and family members of the victims decried the decision, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn demanded that a new grand jury reopen the case.

“Justice must be served,” Hahn said.

An embittered David Ortiz, whose 15-year-old son was fatally shot by a deputy in Artesia, said: “I thought if anybody would be fair and be moral and be honest and have courage it would be the grand jury. I was wrong. . . . Now we’re trying to figure out, how did they whitewash it?”

Because the grand jury’s proceedings are confidential, the 23-member citizens panel did not disclose its reasoning. A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, whose office presented evidence to the grand jury, said prosecutors are similarly barred from discussing the case.

At an afternoon press conference, Block provided few details, saying the grand jury based its decision on the evidence gathered by the district attorney as well as his own department. “I don’t think this is a case of being vindicated or not vindicated,” the sheriff said. “Their only finding indicates that there was no basis on which to pursue this matter criminally.”

As to the critics, Block said: “The same people who are critics today are the ones who advocated, indeed demanded, a grand jury inquiry into the four shootings.”

One law enforcement source said the grand jury, which began its work on Sept. 26 and concluded on Wednesday, heard testimony from well over 100 witnesses. Reiner’s spokeswoman, Sandi Gibbons, said the panel worked “nearly full time” on the investigation.

The grand jury’s findings were announced by the panel’s foreman, George Ackerman, in a three-paragraph letter sent Friday morning to Reiner, Block and each member of the county Board of Supervisors, which called for the probe. The letter said only that there was “insufficient evidence” to indict any of the deputies.

Unless another grand jury reviews the case and reaches a different conclusion, Friday’s decision effectively puts an end to any criminal prosecution by the state. But other probes continue.

The FBI is investigating the four shootings to see if they involved civil rights violations. A spokeswoman said Justice Department attorneys will review the evidence and decide whether to prosecute. Block, meanwhile, said he will begin an internal investigation to see if administrative charges should be brought against the five officers, and if disciplinary action is necessary.

Friday’s decision comes on the heels of the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations of police brutality within the Sheriff’s Department, and to review department policies on the use of excessive force. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors named retired Superior Court Judge James Kolts to conduct the inquiry.

While Supervisor Mike Antonovich praised the grand jury’s findings as “welcome news” and “an affirmation” of the sheriff’s training procedures, Supervisor Ed Edelman said the need for Kolts’ investigation “remains critical despite the grand jury’s findings.”

Said Edelman: “Millions of dollars in claims are pending against the Sheriff’s Department and there remains a need to restore public confidence in law enforcement.”

Kolts, meanwhile, said he does not think Friday’s decision will have any effect on his work, which will focus largely on policy matters and department practices. “I am not going to be concerned with criminal aspects as such,” he said. “I will leave that up to the authorities that handle criminal matters.”

The four shootings occurred over a one-month span that began with the Aug. 3 slaying of 19-year-old Arturo Jiminez at the Ramona Gardens housing project. Authorities said Jiminez was shot in the chest three times by Deputy Jason Mann, 28, after Jiminez took another deputy’s flashlight and knocked the officer unconscious. But residents said Jiminez simply argued with deputies and never struck anyone.

The other victims were Ortiz, the 15-year-old who was shot in Artesia on Aug. 28 by Deputy Jose Belmares; Steve Clemons, 28, who was shot in Willowbrook Park Sept. 2 by Deputy Michael Staley; and Kenneth Hamilton, a 33-year-old mentally disturbed man who was shot eight times in the back and once in a shoulder by Deputies Kelly Enos and Paul McCready on Aug. 13. Hamilton was shot while he apparently was lying face-down. Although sheriff’s officials first said Hamilton had reached for a knife, they later disclosed that he had never threatened deputies with the knife.

All off the officers remain on duty except Enos and McCready. Block said the two will remain off duty with pay until the internal affairs probe is complete.

Lawyers for families of two of the victims blamed Reiner’s office for the grand jury’s failure to indict, saying the district attorney--whose prosecutors control grand jury proceedings--has not been vigorous in the prosecution of police officers. Reiner has faced similar accusations in the past, and has vehemently denied them.

Attorney Samuel Paz, who represents the Jiminez family, said two witnesses told him they had been questioned extensively about whether Jiminez was a gang member, but hardly at all about the actual shooting.

Miguel Garcia, the lawyer representing the Ortiz family, complained that two witnesses in that case were intimidated by being held unnecessarily at the county jail. He said sheriff’s deputies required the witnesses to wear leg irons while they testified, giving the grand jury a tainted impression of them.

“I believe that it was an intentional effort by the Sheriff’s Department, with the incompetent acquiescence of the district attorney, that these witnesses were presented in such a way that the witnesses were not credible,” Garcia said.

But Gibbons, Reiner’s spokeswoman, said the grand jury was “extremely conscientious.”