Excessive Force Used in Shooting, Jury Finds : Courts: An Orange officer responding to a domestic dispute gunned down an unarmed man in 1990. The ruling comes in a $5-million wrongful death suit filed by the victim’s family.

A Superior Court jury deliberated less than five hours Thursday before finding that an Orange police officer used excessive force when he gunned down an unarmed man while responding to a domestic dispute.

The jury’s verdict concludes the first part of a wrongful death suit filed against the city of Orange and Orange Police Officer Jeffrey Mundt, who shot and killed Ramon Ibarra, 27, two years ago.

The jury will begin hearing evidence today to determine whether the city must pay damages to Ibarra’s common-law wife, Connie Owen, and their five children, ages 2 to 9.

Attorney Greg Owen declined to discuss how much he will ask the jury to award Ibarra’s family, but a press release detailing the case said $5 million will be requested.

“What is the value of a father? That’s what the jury will have to decide,” Greg Owen said afterward. The attorney is not related to the plaintiff in the civil case.

Mundt has been with the Orange Police Department less than two years and had received his initial police training with the Los Angeles Police Department, Greg Owen said. The LAPD fired Mundt during his probation period after an allegation of excessive force, the attorney said.

Greg Owen said he believed a key point in the trial came when Mundt admitted that he had lied during a deposition about the circumstances of his departure from the LAPD.

The Orange County district attorney’s office ruled that the shooting was justified and Mundt remains on the force. He was on special assignment Thursday and could not be reached for comment, according to the Orange Police Department.

Lt. Timm Browne, spokesman for the department, also declined to comment. Attorney Bruce D. Praet, who is representing Mundt and the department, declined to comment until the case is completed.

On July 9, 1990, Ibarra arrived home about 9 p.m. and went into a drunken rage, threatening Connie Owen, according to trial testimony. Connie Owen called 911 and met police outside to tell them she feared for her safety, officials said. A few moments later, Ibarra was dead.

Greg Owen argued to jurors that Ibarra did not pose a threat to officers when he was killed. He said Mundt overreacted, failed to follow department policy and then lied about the sequence of events that led to the shooting, including when he fired his weapon. Evidence against Mundt by fellow officers supported the plaintiff’s claim, Greg Owen said.

Praet told the jury that Mundt had used reasonable, but not excessive, force. When police arrived at Ibarra’s front door, he verbally challenged the officers and struck and injured Mundt with two large pieces of a broken fan. Praet said Mundt fired his weapon because he feared that Ibarra was grabbing for a gun, and that the bullet wounds indicate that Ibarra was reaching for an object when he was shot.

Mundt and Ibarra were no strangers to each other. On July 2, 1990--a week before the slaying--Mundt and fellow officers had responded to a domestic call at the Ibarra home. Ibarra had to be forcibly restrained after he began kicking and punching the officers at that time.

During that first incident, Ibarra also told Mundt he would kill him the next time he saw the officer, Praet told jurors. The threat and the possibility that Ibarra may have possessed a weapon from his job as a security guard were on Mundt’s mind that night, Praet told jurors, asking them to consider the situation from Mundt’s viewpoint.