D.A. Worker Is Found Guilty of Manslaughter

A Riverside County district attorney’s office investigator charged with shooting an Indio man during an on-duty confrontation was found guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors accused Dan Riter, 56, of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force when he fired his handgun into the cab of a truck driven by Jesus Pena “Jesse” Herrera, 32, near the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission on Feb. 1, 2002.

Riter now faces punishment ranging from probation to 15 years in prison.

Riter blew the air from his mouth and stared downward after the verdicts were read by a Superior Court clerk. Michael P. Stone, Riter’s attorney, described his client’s reaction as “disappointment, not outrage.”

Riter became the first Riverside County law enforcement officer to be charged with murder for an action connected to his duty. Jurors had the option of convicting him of second-degree murder, manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

The jury foreman, who declined to be identified, explained: “A conscious disregard for human life [necessary for a second-degree murder conviction] could not be proven.”

Stone had argued during the trial that Riter confronted violent resistance when he tried to detain a woman whose two young children had been declared wards of the court. Michael Murphy, the prosecuting deputy attorney general, said the 23-year investigator used unreasonable deadly force by sticking his handgun into the truck driven by Herrera and firing within 12 inches of Herrera’s head.

Stone said jurors told him in a private conference after the verdicts that: “The vehicle was moving, and Dan was moving and something went wrong.... They could not get by the fact that the gun was in the position it was.”

The involuntary manslaughter conviction carries a 2- to 5-year sentence, and an added conviction for firing a gun into a moving vehicle has a 5- to 10-year sentence.

But Riter, who will be sentenced Sept. 12 by Judge W. Charles Morgan, could also be sentenced to probation.

That fact, and Riter’s successful effort to post $150,000 bail Thursday, upset Herrera’s brother, Poly Herrera.

“If [Riter] were anyone else, they’d probably lock him up and throw away the key,” Poly Herrera said outside court. “I cannot be satisfied with this verdict because I believe this was coldblooded murder.”

Dan Morefield, a longtime friend of Riter’s, said Riter was hurt by the charges because “he was only focused on the safe recovery of those children.”

After the verdicts, Riverside County Dist. Atty. Grover Trask announced that Riter, who had been placed on paid administrative leave during his trial, would be fired. Several co-workers of Riter’s attended the trial.

“Maybe [Riter’s] friends will learn from this,” Poly Herrera said.