Judge dismisses much of homeless man’s lawsuit against O.C. sheriff’s deputies

A federal judge has effectively gutted a civil lawsuit against an Orange County sheriff’s deputy accused of excessive force at O’Neill Regional Park three years ago, dismissing all but two claims and postponing the trial to August.

A lawyer representing the homeless man suing, however, vowed to press on.

“I think that we have a very solid case. I can’t wait to go to trial,” Narine Mkrtchyan told TimesOC.

Mkrtchyan’s case now rests on claims of excessive force and conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights, instead of additional claims for unreasonable search and seizure, false arrest, and a claim that Orange County’s policing customs and practices are unlawful.

The latter were dismissed recently in an order from U.S. District Judge David O. Carter. It’s a major loss for Mkrtchyan and her client, Jeremy Holloway, after a win in March that gave her access to the Orange County district attorney’s office criminal file against her main defendant, Deputy Chad Renegar, who is charged with perjury and report falsification in a separate incident.

But Mkrtchyan told TimesOC she believes she still has a solid case, and the judge left the door open for her to question Renegar about the criminal case should he testify.

Still, the lawsuit is largely gone, and Carter made clear Mkrtchyan can’t touch Renegar’s criminal case if he doesn’t take the stand. The judge vowed in a May 6 Zoom hearing to declare an immediate mistrial if she does.

Attorneys for Renegar and the county could not be reached for comment.

The dismissals, handed down May 5, follow two years of contentious courtroom battles that included a sanctions request for Mkrtchyan’s deposition of Renegar, which U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas McCormick described in a court order as “to put it mildly, a train wreck.” McCormick, who is handling the case with Carter, blamed Mkrtchyan for acting unprofessionally.

Mkrtchyan said she plans to ask Carter to reconsider some of his decisions regarding what can be allowed at trial and what can’t, acknowledging that many were unfavorable to her case.

“This case has become a little bit more challenging to me,” Mkrtchyan said.

Carter flatly rejected claims of a “code of silence” among the sheriff’s department and  that deputies have a pattern of falsifying reports.

“Here, even viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, Plaintiff has failed to establish evidence of an unlawful custom or practice,” according to Carter’s order. “At best, Plaintiff alleges the instant, single incident of deputies falsifying reports following a use of excessive force.”

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Mkrtchyan said Renegar needlessly beat Holloway after responding to O’Neill Regional Park for a domestic violence call on Jan. 21, 2018. She also accused Deputy Brenden Billinger and Deputy Justin Gunderson of excessive force for not intervening. But Carter concluded “neither deputy had a reasonable opportunity to intercede.”

“To Deputy Gunderson’s knowledge, the deputies were properly arresting a suspect. The ensuing physical altercation took place quickly and Gunderson testified that when he arrived, Holloway was already on the ground and the deputies were attempting to handcuff him,” according to the 11-page order, issued May 5. “Deputy Billinger testified that he never saw guns being pointed and that he only assumed there was a use of force because Billinger heard it over the broadcast.”

The case drew heightened attention after Orange County prosecutors announced their criminal case against Renegar in February. In that incident, he’s accused of forging a victim’s signature while falsifying a geographic location in a report about a stolen license plate.

Mkrtchyan told TimesOC that the allegations were similar to what she believed happened with Renegar and Holloway. Holloway was never charged with a crime, and Mkrtchyan believes deputies falsely arrested him.

But Carter concluded they had probable cause, and he dismissed allegations that the deputies acted out of bounds by investigating claims from other campers that a woman inside Holloway’s tent had been screaming for help.

“Regardless of whether the witness accounts were based on what they heard rather than what they saw, the Court finds that the information about a man allegedly beating a woman was reasonably trustworthy,” according to the judge’s order.

Meghann M. Cuniff is a contributor to TimesOC.

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