Two more of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s “finest” have been sentenced to federal prison for their roles in the savage beating of a restrained county jail inmate. Joey Aguiar and Mariano Ramirez were convicted this past February of writing false reports regarding their use of force in restraining Bret Phillips. Thanks to federal intervention, the two are the latest officers to be convicted of walking on the other side of the law. Daily Kos has covered some of these convictions here and here.
“Aguiar and Ramirez acknowledged in internal department reports they wrote at the time that they used physical force to restrain an inmate, Bret Phillips, delivering repeated punches, striking him with a flashlight and pepper-spraying him in the face.”
“The force was necessary to subdue Phillips, the deputies said. They wrote in their reports that Phillips, who suffers from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, had attempted to head-butt Aguiar and continued to struggle after being pinned on the ground.”
“At the deputies’ trial in February, prosecutors argued that the men had fabricated their account and Phillips had done nothing to justify the force. The prosecutors offered a different version of the beating based on testimony from Phillips and two witnesses, claiming the deputies grew angry and targeted Phillips after the inmate acted out in frustration at being left handcuffed in his cell for a prolonged period.”
“Phillips could not have posed any serious threat to the deputies because his hands were shackled to a chain around his waist throughout the beating, prosecutors told jurors.”
Jurors in the trial found the two deputies guilty of writing false reports. They acquitted the men of conspiracy to deny Phillips his civil rights, but hung on the issue of whether or not they had used excessive force to subdue Phillips. The May 9 sentencing was the result of a deal with prosecutors to avoid a retrial on the charge of excessive force.
“In an interview after the verdict, the jury forewoman said all but two jurors had favored convicting the deputies of violating Phillips' civil rights.”
“Discrepancies between medical records that showed Phillips suffered minor injuries and dramatic accounts of a brutal beating from the prosecution's witnesses were troubling to the two jurors who refused to vote guilty, the jury forewoman said.”
Okay. We’ll come back to that.
The judge in the case, Beverly Reid O’Connell, showed a measure of leniency to the men who faced a maximum of two years in prison. She sentenced Aguiar to 18 months and Ramirez to 13 months, noting that because Ramirez was ...
“ … a father of two boys and the good he had made of his life despite a "significantly difficult upbringing." Aguiar, now 29, was young and new to the jailing assignment when the incident occurred and had otherwise led a law-abiding life, she said.”
“Making good” of a "significantly difficult upbringing" and leading a “law-abiding life” are truly admirable traits. Indeed, if more people cultivated such traits we would more than likely be able to get a handle on the kind of crime statistics we are consistently bombarded with.
But the cultivation of admirable character traits in the absence of an ethics of compassion and restorative justice leaves us no better off. Shall we revisit this case? Phillips’ “ … hands were shackled to a chain around his waist throughout the beating,” and he was subjected to “ … repeated punches, striking him with a flashlight and pepper-spraying him in the face.” Officers of the law—sheriff’s deputies—who have no qualms about such behavior except upon being caught lying about it are barren souls who have no business in that profession. A profession that allows such behavior to flourish is a decrepit and bankrupt one. And jury members who cannot agree—or do not understand—that such behavior is de facto proof of a conspiracy because it is expected and encouraged, are the footstools upon which such a system finds solace.
Neither Aguiar nor Ramirez were taken into custody upon sentencing. They have until August 1 to turn themselves in.