Oxnard Officer Robert Flinn withstood a heavy assault
is U.S. District Court last month. The jury voted 11-1 for acquittal,
following the lead of a state court jury in Ventura County.
The trial was bitterly fought by the United States
Attorney’s office. It spared no expense and mounted a formidable
offense against Flinn. The courtroom was filled with Sr. United States
attorneys and FBI agents handling assistant U.S. attorney Jonathan
Shapiro notes all through the trial.
The defense of Officer Flinn began with a solid
commitment from LDF to put together the best defense possible.
The investigative team consisted of retired Los
Angeles Police Detective Larry Delosh, who conducted interviews of
police and civilian witnesses and retired police Captain Jerry Feinberg
in Texas. Captain Feinberg investigated the prosecution’s medical
expert witness, Dr. Harry Smith from San Antonio.
The defense retained the services of Dr. Cyril Wecht,
a noted pathologist from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Kenneth
Solomon, a bio-mechanical engineer in Los Angeles. Dr. Wecht and Dr.
Solomon acted as consultants with the defense and assisted with the
preparation for the cross examination of Dr. Smith.
The defense strategy was to point out to the jury
that the physical evidence in this case supported Flinn’s contention
that he did not hit suspect Lopez over the head with a flashlight.
The fact that no hair, blood, or tissue was found on
the flashlight, no fractures or significant contusions were around the
wound, and absence of any blood in the front of Lopez’s shirt weighed
heavily on the jury.
Larry Delosh rooted out some valuable pieces of
evidence not available at the state trial, including a witness who
observed a contusion on Lopez’s chest, consistent with the blow
Officer Flinn did in fact inflict.
Observations from the paramedics who described the
eye wound as dirty, abraded and filled with debris, and the E.R. nurse,
who heard the key prosecution witness state he was too far away from the
incident to clearly observe, added more proof of Flinn’s innocence.
Flinn testified on his own behalf and never buckled
or wavered from the prosecutor’s attack. He stood tall.
The jury had little doubt he was the kind of police
officer who would not use excessive force. In fact, several of the
jurors who voted 11-1 for acquittal on "count one" were crying
because they cared so much for him.
Flinn’s attorney, LDF panel attorney Barry Levin
stated, "I don’t think I have ever seen more support by fellow
officers than in any other police officer’s case that I defended
before.
"Sergeant Dan Christian attended the trial every
day and sat with us through three grueling days of deliberations. Rob’s
father and his wife Monika stood by him through the entire ordeal."
The effort of this support brought the human element
to the trial and was intimidating to the prosecution team.
One can only hope that the U.S. attorney will review
this case and realize the two juries have viewed this case in two
counties, both voting 11-1 for acquittal, and dismiss this case.
