4 Took 5th in Beating Probe

Prosecutors were forced to give immunity to four law enforcement officers in order to get them to testify before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury about the videotaped beating of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson, a transcript and interviews show.

The statements contained in the 450-page transcript could benefit both sides if the case of two Inglewood officers goes to trial, experts said.

Inglewood Officer Jeremy J. Morse has been indicted on a charge of assault under the color of authority for the beating of Jackson. Morse’s partner, Bijan Darvish, was charged with filing a false police report because he failed to include an account of Morse slamming Jackson against the trunk of a patrol car. Neither Morse nor Darvish testified before the grand jury.

At trial, prosecutors would be likely to emphasize the immunized officers’ statements that Jackson had stopped resisting once he was handcuffed--before Morse slammed the teenager against the car. Moreover, after being shown the videotape, the two Inglewood officers granted immunity testified that Morse’s actions were inconsistent with police policy.

Defense attorneys, however, were already emphasizing another part of the testimony: that some of the officers knew they were being videotaped both by a citizen and a surveillance camera.

“It’s a preposterous notion to think that an officer would write a false police report knowing that there were two independent films,” said Darvish’s attorney, Ron Brower.

He said his client was looking away when Jackson was placed on the patrol car, adding that the grand jury transcript shows that Darvish was not the only one who said he did not see what was caught on videotape.

Morse’s attorney, John Barnett, said there were many points in the transcript that support his case. Referring to the officers’ comments that his client violated policy, he said they did not have all the facts.

“The officers are not use-of-force experts,” he said. “If use-of-force experts testify and look at both tapes, then their opinion will be, and is, that the use of force was appropriate.”

Defense lawyers also may stress that none of the four officers testified that they actually saw Morse throw Jackson against the car and that only one witnessed him punch the boy in the face.

When Inglewood Officers Mariano Salcedo and Antoine Crook and county sheriff’s deputies Carlos Lopez and Daniel Leon were called to testify, each invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

After holding a hearing on the issue, Superior Court Judge Dan Oki ruled that the four officers did risk incriminating themselves by testifying about their involvement in the incident.

Based on that, prosecutors granted them immunity, meaning they are essentially protected from criminal charges arising from the fracas.

The incident began when the two sheriff’s deputies approached Jackson’s father, Coby Chavis, to investigate expired registration tags on his car.

A struggle ensued after Jackson allegedly refused to obey several orders by deputies, according to the transcript. Darvish struck Jackson in the face before the teenager was handcuffed, the transcript said.

‘No Longer a Threat’

The immunized officers told grand jurors that Jackson stopped resisting as soon as he was on the ground and handcuffed. Salcedo said Jackson’s legs went limp, and Crook said, “He was no longer a threat.”

Jackson told grand jurors that he had passed out by then after being choked and pummeled by officers. His father also testified that his son became unconscious.

The videotape of the incident shot by a bystander, Mitchell Crooks, shows Morse lifting a handcuffed Jackson off the ground and slamming him onto the police car.

Salcedo told grand jurors that he heard a thump--presumably the sound of the slamming--and saw Morse with Jackson on the police car.

A moment later, Salcedo testified, he heard the officer yell, “Let me go, let me go” and “flinch back with his hips.” That could bolster Morse’s contention that Jackson grabbed him in the groin.

One Says He Saw Punch

Salcedo was the only one of the four officer witnesses who testified that he then witnessed Morse punch Jackson. Afterward, he said, he restrained Morse to de-escalate the situation.

The other officers told grand jurors that they saw neither the punch nor the slamming.

During the grand jury proceedings, Salcedo and Crook both watched the video and said Morse’s conduct was not acceptable police policy or behavior. Crook testified about the slamming: “We weren’t taught to do that as policy.... We are only taught to place people in cars.”

Los Angeles attorney Carolyn Kubota, a former federal prosecutor, said the testimony by Salcedo and Crook could help prove the prosecution case because “police policy is the guideline for officers to use to determine appropriate action.”

Prosecutors may also use that testimony to show that police policy does not permit continued use of force after the suspect quits resisting.

Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman, however, said he does not think prosecutors gained much from the officers’ testimony other than getting them on the record. “The grand jury probably would have indicted them just on the videotape and Jackson’s testimony,” he said.

Goldman also said defense lawyers will be able to attack Jackson’s testimony that he passed out. “Isn’t it convenient to say you are unconscious just at the moment when Officer Morse is saying you are grabbing his crotch?” he said.

Defense attorneys said the transcript casts doubt on Jackson’s truthfulness. Jackson said he obeyed all of the officers’ orders, though the officers testified that the boy lunged at them. Barnett said Jackson’s testimony contradicted his family’s statements that he did not understand the officers’ orders because he is developmentally disabled.

Barnett added that Jackson continued to resist officers after being handcuffed.

“As soon as [Morse] picked Jackson up and [Jackson] refused to walk, that’s a form of resistance,” he said. Morse could have feared that the resistance would resume after Jackson was handcuffed, Barnett said. “The testicle grabbing could support that.”