4 Oxnard Officers Cleared in Slaying of Armed Man

A federal jury Wednesday cleared four Oxnard police officers of any wrongdoing in the shooting death of an armed and despondent 35-year-old man gunned down in 1993.

Nicholas Paul Partee, 35, led four pursuing officers on a car chase from Oxnard to Camarillo, where the officers said Partee pointed a handgun at them.

Police investigators and Ventura County district attorney officials ruled that the officers were justified in shooting Partee 25 times. Partee had a history of drug abuse and was suspected of violating a temporary restraining order obtained by his ex-wife.

But Partee’s parents, ex-wife and two children sued the officers and the city of Oxnard in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging that police violated Partee’s civil rights and wrongfully killed him.

After an eight-day trial, a jury on Wednesday unanimously sided with the officers and found they acted properly. The family was awarded nothing.

“It has been stressful,” said Officer Chris Orsini, a five-year veteran of the force. “I always had a clear conscience that we acted properly and had to do what we did. But it makes me feel good that the public feels the same way.”

Jim Stallings, Terry Burr and Roger Sonini were cleared along with Orsini. All but Sonini--who retired recently--remain with the Oxnard Police Department.

“It was kind of strange facing his family every day” during the trial, Orsini said.

Orsini, 29, said he had never fired his weapon in the line of duty before or after the Oct. 1, 1993, shooting.

Police were called to the home of Partee’s ex-wife, who accused the construction worker of violating a restraining order. When police approached Partee at a nearby convenience store, he fled in his car and was cornered 10 miles away in Camarillo.

“Our defense was that this was a suicide-by-cop situation,” defense attorney Alan E. Wisotsky said. Partee was shot 25 times because “he kept coming at them with the gun,” Wisotsky said.

“I think that was proof that he wanted to die,” he said.