LOS ANGELES
Two Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies who were assigned to the Men’s Central Jail were found guilty Tuesday of falsifying reports with the intent to obstruct justice.
The false reports were filed after an incident in which Bret Phillips, a shackled inmate, was struck, kicked, repeatedly hit by a flashlight, and pepper-sprayed by the defendants in Feb. 11, 2009.
The incident came to light after a Jail Chaplin reported the beating to the ACLU and FBI, court evidence indicated.
The case against former Los Angeles Deputies Joey Aguiar and Mariano Ramirez is the result of an investigation by the FBI, and is one in a series of cases resulting from an investigation into corruption and civil rights abuses at county jail facilities in downtown Los Angeles.
As a result of the FBI investigation, 17 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department have now been convicted of federal charges.
After a two-week trial, a federal jury convicted Aguiar, 28, and Ramirez, 40. Both men were found guilty of one count of falsifying records with the intent to obstruct justice. Both are facing up to 20 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell scheduled a sentencing date for April 25.
“These defendants failed to report accurately the circumstances surrounding the beating of an inmate who was restrained with waist chains in an attempt to obstruct a subsequent investigation,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “This failure to tell the truth and attempt to thwart oversight tarnishes the outstanding work of law enforcement officers everywhere.”
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on a civil rights offense that alleges the deputies unlawfully beat the victim during the incident. The jurors were split 10-2 in favor of guilt.
The jury acquitted Aguiar and Ramirez of conspiring to violate the inmate’s civil rights.
Federal prosecutors have yet to decide if they will retry Aguiar and Ramirez on the unresolved civil rights charge, according to authorities.
Aguiar was convicted of one count of falsification of records for submitting a report that falsely stated that Phillips, 44, was beaten after he had attempted to head-butt deputy Aguiar’s face and that Phillips violently kicked at Aguiar. Mr. Phillips did neither, according to testimony presented at the trial.
It was undisputed that Mr. Phillips was waist-chained with handcuffs binding his hands to a chain around his stomach throughout the entire beating, court evidence indicated.
During the trial, Chaplin Paulino Juarez, who eyewitnessed to the beating, testified that he repeatedly raised concerns about what he had seen with senior Los Angeles Sheriff’s officials. But he was rebuffed.
Chaplin Juarez ultimately relayed his concerns to the ACLU. The information provided to the ACLU by the chaplain later came to the attention of the FBI, according to court testimony.
By this time the FBI had begun a wide-ranging investigation into civil rights abuses by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies in custodial settings, particularly excessive uses of force by deputies on the 3000 Floor of the Men’s Central Jail.
Another witness, who was an inmate when Mr. Phillips was beaten, testified that he hid in the shower to avoid being seen by the sheriff’s deputies as he watched them beat a defenseless and unmoving inmate.
Ramirez was found guilty of one count of falsification of records for submitting a report that falsely stated the victim had “viciously kicked his legs at deputies.”
During the incident – which allegedly involved an excessive and unreasonable use of force, according to the still-pending charge in the case – Aguiar and Ramirez punched and kicked the victim before using pepper spray on him and then hitting him repeatedly with a flashlight, according to the testimony at trial.
Soon after the incident, the deputies wrote the false reports that were later referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for potential criminal prosecution of Phillips.
(Feb. 7, 2014 News Video)