Los Angeles— A Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy will serve four months in prison for misdemeanor excessive force after the new Trump-appointed US attorney granted an unprecedented plea deal despite a jury convicting him of a felony.
The victim’s attorney petitioned a federal appeals court to reinstate the felony conviction, but the court denied on Thursday.
Deputy Trevor Kirk was caught assaulting and pepper-spraying an elderly woman while she was filming a man being detained outside a shop in June 2023. In February, a federal jury found Kirk guilty of one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law, which carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years. Felony convictions also ban law enforcement officers from continuing to service or possessing firearms.
When U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli came office a few months later, federal prosecutors offered Kirk a plea deal: the felony would be dropped if he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and one year of probation would be recommended. A judge agreed to the reduced charge but sentenced Kirk to four months in prison on Monday.
In a video uploaded online, Essayli stated that prosecutors had offered Kirk a minor plea arrangement, which he turned down.
“After reviewing this case extensively and thoroughly and carefully reviewing the facts and the law, I made the decision to re-extend the misdemeanor plea agreement to Deputy Kirk,” according to Essayli.
In court records signed by Essayli, prosecutors stated that they considered Kirk’s actions were on the lower end of the excessive force continuum, that the woman did not sustain “serious bodily injury,” and that the case was tried unlawfully.
Some former prosecutors and police conviction specialists described the move as exceedingly rare, especially given the lack of any indication of prosecutorial wrongdoing, ethical infractions, or new evidence in the case. It comes after President Donald Trump’s pledge to “protect and defend” law enforcement officers from punishment, as well as his efforts to gain more influence over the US Justice Department.
“It’s very unusual to offer a plea deal after a conviction,” said Jeffrey Bellin, a former federal prosecutor from Washington, D.C., who now teaches at William and Mary Law School. In cases where this is possible, there is frequently new proof of innocence, “not just the same evidence from a different perspective,” he explained.
Kirk’s attorney, Tom Yu, stated that they submitted a motion for acquittal that was denied but planned to appeal the judgment.
An encounter
Caree Harper, who represents the lady Kirk harmed, stated in court documents that the federal government altered its account of the incident to make Kirk’s actions appear justifiable.
In the original charge, authorities stated that Kirk “violently” threw the woman to the ground. In the amended plea agreement, the government asserted the woman “swatted” at Kirk and “resisted,” Harper wrote, which she claimed was neither established in the criminal trial nor testified to in civil action.
She stated that her client did not conduct a crime, possessed no weapons, and did not attempt to flee or resist. She was left with a black eye, a shattered bone in her right wrist, several bruises, scratches, and major chemical burns from the pepper spray.
Harper stated that the plea agreement sends a “dangerous message” that law enforcement officials might be convicted of a criminal while still “cutting a backroom deal after the trial.”
According to Philip Stinson, a former police officer and attorney who studies police misconduct, the plea deal offered to Kirk was “seemingly without precedent” in federal court cases prosecuting police officers for on-duty crimes, based on his search of an internal database of more than 24,000 arrest cases involving sworn law enforcement officers over the last 20 years.
According to LA County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Nicole Nishida, Kirk will stay employed by the agency but will be relieved of duty while an internal investigation is conducted to see whether any policies or procedures were violated.
A fresh tactic by federal prosecutors.
Kirk’s case is the latest example of the Trump administration’s intention to reduce the federal government’s traditionally heavy hand in prosecuting police wrongdoing. Trump’s April executive order on police promised law enforcement “unleashing” and legal support.