New U.S. attorney in LA moves to strike jury's felony civil rights verdict against cop

[Nevilledog]

https://www.legalaffairsandtrials.com/p/new-us-attorney-in-la-moves-to-strike

The new top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles is allowing a former sheriff’s deputy convicted by a jury of a felony civil rights violation against a Black woman to instead plead guilty to a misdemeanor and return to policing.

A plea agreement filed late Thursday says if Trevor Kirk pleads guilty to misdemeanor deprivation of rights under color of law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will “move to strike the jury’s finding” that he injured his victim, which made his crime a felony.

The four assistant U.S. attorneys who prosecuted Kirk withdrew from the case on Friday. They did not sign the plea agreement.

An attorney for Kirk’s victim called the deal “a slap in the face of justice.”

“I’m not just disappointed. I’m appalled at the notion that the new administration thinks they can overturn a lawful jury verdict. This is not a case that has not been tried in front of a jury,” Caree Harper, a solo practitioner in Santa Monica, told me in a phone call Friday.

Kirk’s lawyer Tom Yu declined comment on Friday.

Kirk faced about nine years in prison under U.S. Sentencing Commission guidelines for his felony conviction, but his misdemeanor conviction carries a maximum of one year. However, Essayli and Keenan agreed to recommend only one year of probation. They also aren’t barring him from working in law enforcement.

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