Deliberations Begin in Flinn Case

Describing him as a cop motivated by anger, a federal prosecutor Tuesday urged a jury to convict Oxnard Police Officer Robert Flinn of two civil rights violations for allegedly beating an unarmed burglary suspect with a flashlight.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Jonathan S. Shapiro told jurors in closing arguments that Flinn was angry and exhausted after chasing 31-year-old Juan Lopez from the scene of a crime, and bludgeoned the man as punishment for running from police.

“Robert Flinn--alias John Wayne--was eager and ready to fight Juan Lopez,” Shapiro said.

But defense attorney Barry Levin said the beating did not occur.

He told jurors, who began deliberations late Tuesday afternoon, that a close examination of physical evidence will show Flinn never hit Lopez on the head and never violated his constitutional rights.

“To do justice in this case, you must acquit Robert Flinn,” Levin argued at the end of his summation. “Send him home.”

Flinn, a 30-year-old officer and seven-year veteran of the Oxnard force, faces 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines if convicted of using excessive force during the 1996 arrest.

Like the Los Angeles police officers in the Rodney King beating case, Flinn is charged with federal civil rights violations after being acquitted of police brutality charges in state court last year.

Flinn’s trial began last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles with testimony from two key government witnesses: Lopez and former Oxnard Police Officer David Hawtin, who told jurors he saw Flinn strike Lopez on the head with a department-issued flashlight.

Shapiro told the jury in his summation Tuesday that Lopez and Hawtin had no reason to lie--contrary to what the defense has suggested. He said Flinn is the only witness who stands to gain from misleading the jury about what occurred Jan. 27, 1996.

That day Flinn responded to a call of a burglary in progress in a residential Oxnard neighborhood and caught Lopez with his arms full of stolen property. Lopez dropped the items and ran with Flinn in pursuit.

Lopez, who has admitted to being high on heroin at the time, said he stopped after a brief foot chase and surrendered, at which point, he said, Flinn struck him over the head with the flashlight. Lopez said the officer continued to beat him with the flashlight as many as seven times.

“The defendant said it didn’t happen,” Shapiro argued. “But the evidence says it did happen.”

He urged the jury to look closely at Lopez’s medical records and consider the expert testimony of Dr. Harry Smith, who testified a gash above Lopez’s eye most likely was caused by a blow from a blunt object, such as a flashlight.

But Levin challenged the opinions of Smith, whom he called a “hired gun” for the prosecution. Levin also told jurors the testimony of Lopez and Hawtin was so flawed that it could not be trusted.

Hawtin, who admitted to a long-standing dispute with Flinn, did not notify authorities about the alleged beating until after he was identified by Lopez as being the abusive officer--an omission that Levin cited as evidence of bias and a possible motive.

Also, the lawyer suggested if Lopez had been hit on the head with the “full force” blow of a metal flashlight--as he testified--it would have cracked his skull and spilled blood all over the concrete driveway where the alleged beating occurred.

But when Lopez arrived at the hospital, he had only an inch-long cut above the left eye and a bump on the back of the head, according to the treating emergency room doctor. There was only a small pool of blood at the scene, and no evidence of blood on the flashlight itself, Levin said.

“Mr. Shapiro said at the end of Robert Flinn’s flashlight there was no due process,” Levin said. “Ladies and gentleman, at the end of Robert Flinn’s flashlight there was no blood, no hair and no tissue.”

Flinn is accused of violating Lopez’s civil rights by beating him and then trying to cover it up by filing a false battery report.

In response to the second charge, Levin said his client was scraped and bruised during a struggle with Lopez and has every right to file the complaint.

But Shapiro told jurors that Flinn lied to his superiors at the time of the incident, and lied to the jury when he testified last week. He said Flinn only claimed a battery occurred after he was accused of using excessive force.

“Who has got the real motive to lie to you?” the prosecutor asked during his rebuttal argument. “When you parcel out the sound and fury of this trial . . . please consider your common sense.”

The jury began deliberations late Tuesday afternoon and is expected to continue discussing the case today.