How Los Angeles' new top federal prosecutor removes felony verdict in case of excessive force of agents

It took an hour for a federal jury to convict Los Angeles County sheriff to use too much force after he attacked and beat a woman outside a supermarket in Lancaster in 2023.

Prosecutors filed the case during a three-day trial in February, eventually convinced jurors to find Trevor Kirk guilty of felony deprivation of rights under the color of the law. Kirk faces up to 10 years in prison.

But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson sentenced Kirk to four months in prison after he approved the government's request to dismiss the felony charge last week. Kirk faces one year in prison for being fired.

Prior to the sentencing, the government demanded a probation, which included three months of family detention and 200 hours of community service. The Defense Team requires a two-month family ban and 300 hours of community service.

“I think the jury's verdict is fully supported and the case is not unfairly debated, as the government said in an early stage,” Wilson said after the sentence. “The police's work is very difficult…but with these factors in mind, it is a responsibility to take appropriate action.”

Kirk refused to speak at the sentencing hearing. Tom Yu, a lawyer representing Kirk, said they plan to appeal Wilson to earlier deny his acquittal.

The verdict limited a controversial case that caused the federal government to abandon the conviction and took extremely unusual legal steps to provide Kirk with a misdemeanor plea agreement after a juror's speech. The plea deal played a role in the resignation of several federal prosecutors last month and raised concerns about how the office will respond to law enforcement cases.

The Post-trial Agreement reached by Trump the same week issued an executive order that vowed to “release” U.S. law enforcement and followed other recent controversies that raised an alarm about the erosion of independence of the U.S. Department of Justice under the Trump administration.

On Monday, sitting in the front row of the packaging court was our Atty. For Los Angeles Bill Essayli, a determined Trump ally and tenacious conservative, he was appointed in April with a felony sentence disbanded.

Approached after the hearing, Essayli declined to comment.

Prosecution

A federal jury sued Kirk in September last year in connection with the June 2023 incident in which the attorney (responding to a robbery report) threw a woman on the ground while pepper sprinkled her face while she was filming outside Lancaster Winco.

Court records show that while the woman's description of a female suspect in Kirk matches that of the dispatcher, she was not armed or committed a crime when facing her.

According to a motion filed by ASST, before the case goes to trial. We atty. Robert J. Keenan, the government is willing to enter into a plea agreement that will allow Kirk to plead for misdemeanors. Instead, Kirk took the opportunity and lost in the jury trial.

In January, Nick Wilson, the first defense panel and spokesman for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association, wrote to Trump, urging him to intervene before the case is heard. In his letter, he said that left-wing radicals wanted to take Kirk as an example.

“This case is not just a representative, but about the survival of American law and order,” he wrote, according to screenshots of letters posted on social media. “If the radical left can undermine the career of peace officials who simply complete their jobs, no official is safe.”

In any case, the trial continues.

In the opening speech on February 4, Assistant. We atty. Brian R. Faerstein told the jury that Kirk “sprayed her force at her when she didn't need to do so.”

“At the end of this trial, the United States will ask you to accused of abuse of their power and authority,” Folstein said.

Kirk's attorney Tom Yu told the jury that Kirk relied on training to deal with “resistance suspects.”

“There is a difference between the use of force and excessive force,” he said.

Two days later, the jury found guilty.

New U.S. Attorney

Essayli was sworn in as the new U.S. attorney on April 2. The second week, the Kirk case prosecutor filed a motion to delay the verdict hearing because Essayli wanted to review the case.

When asked about the review, the U.S. Attorney's Office said the former U.S. Martin Estrada established an executive position in the office in March 2023 to address ethics and post-conviction issues.

The office said it had requested a review of pre-conviction cases but declined to comment on how many cases have been reviewed since 2023. Estrada did not respond to an email last week asking for comment on the emails in the Kirk case and refused to speak with Time Reporter when in person.

Shortly after his appointment, Essayli asked the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office to “an independent and impartial review of cases and evidence in Kirk’s affairs”, according to District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

“I assigned a team of experienced investigators and prosecutors to thoroughly review evidence and case details and evaluate the allegations we will consider if the case is submitted to us for a potential application,” Hurstling said in a statement.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why Essayli involved the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office in a federal case in Lancaster. A legal expert said the move was very unusual.

“I think it seems he is trying to seek evidence to find what he is looking for. The fact that he walked out of the office shows that he has not received support from the prosecutors in the office.

In light of partisan allegations surrounding the case, Palmer also questioned why Essayli did not ask the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to lead the review. Atti. Nathan Hochman's status as political independence.

“It seems that if you're looking for other cases in this case, it might make sense to go to the county where the crime is happening now for the former federal prosecutor who is now working on the streets.”

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Essayli never contacted Hochman in the Kirk case.

In April, Wilson denied YU's motion to be acquitted. The judge ruled that the footage of the incident was sufficient evidence that the jury found Kirk using “objective and unreasonable power.”

On April 22, the judge rejected the government's request to postpone Kirk's verdict.

Two days later, Riverside County prosecutor and investigator Essayli reviewed the case, which presented their findings and suggestions at a meeting in Los Angeles, according to Hestrin.

When asked what these findings and suggestions were, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office turned the question to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declining to comment.

On May 1, the government proposed a “post-trial” plea agreement under which Kirk would plead guilty to misdemeanors' violation of legal rights. Misdemeanor downgrade is important because Kirk will lose the right to be a law enforcement officer or possess a felony convicted firearm.

Robert J. Keenan, the only assistant attorney in the United States who signed a plea agreement, has not been involved in the case before. The next day, the original prosecutor was involved in all cases.

Last week, Wilson rejected a plea agreement that suggested Kirk was sentenced to probation. But despite the jury conviction, the judge approved the prosecutor's motion to mitigate the charges against the deputy.

Sentencing

More than 50 people held a sentence hearing in court on Monday, including former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who advocated Kirk's case online. Before the lawsuit began, supporters hugged Kirk, wearing a cross-shaped pin with the American flag.

At the beginning of the hearing, Kirk's attorney told the judge that he and the administration were recently told that attorney Caree Harper, who represented Houseton, filed a writ with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, seeking proceedings.

Wilson walked away briefly to determine if this would affect the hearing, but ultimately decided to proceed.

Keenan told the judge that the government believes that imprisonment is “unnecessary” and “unreasonable.”
Wilson said in his opinion that Kirk's move was “very far-reaching.” Kirk “knows there is no danger to himself or anyone else,” he said, and then he squirted houseton.

“It's terrible,” Wilson said. “Yes, it's not as terrible as many cases or most of the cases I've seen, but that's the case before. It doesn't seem to me that it can be punished … It's the way the courts think that the purpose of justice is achieved.”

Kirk agreed to surrender on August 28.