Simi Valley : Jury Exonerates Police in Blinding of Man

A Ventura County jury deliberated just 1 1/2 hours Friday before finding that two Simi Valley police officers were not responsible for blinding a man in one eye while arresting him.

In an 11-1 vote, the jurors dismissed the allegations of Anthony Cardilino that he was deliberately poked in the eye with a baton by Detective Thomas Marshall before being handcuffed, bounced off the hood of a patrol car and thrown to the ground.

Cardilino also claimed that excessive force was used by Detective Anthony Anzilotti and that both officers delayed getting him to a doctor.

Richard A. Wylie, assistant city attorney for Simi Valley, said a juror told him after the verdict that the panel did not believe Cardilino had been hit in the eye with a baton.

“And they felt that even if the officers threw him against the car, well, he was resisting arrest,” Wylie said.

Defense attorney Jeffrey M. Galen said he was in “complete disagreement” with the verdict.

“Unfortunately, when dealing with Ventura County juries, we’ve got a jury mentality that still is very, very pro-police,” Galen said. “I think that the evidence in this case was extremely clear and convincing.”

Cardilino, 33, was arrested Oct. 31, 1987, at a convenience store in Simi Valley on outstanding traffic warrants after an altercation with an off-duty sheriff’s deputy.

Wylie told jurors during his closing argument that Cardilino’s eye injury could have happened while he was in Ventura County Jail.

Wylie told the jury that there is no record of Cardilino telling emergency room physicians about the eye injury when he was treated for a head laceration immediately after the arrest.

Galen said he is considering asking for a new trial or challenging the verdict on appeal.