Jury clears Fresno officers in federal civil rights case

A federal court jury on Tuesday cleared two Fresno police officers of using excessive force and unlawfully arresting a 15-year-old Hoover High School girl after school after a disturbance at a diner near campus that was crowded with students.

Jurors deliberated just 35 minutes in what was a clear-cut victory for Fresno police Sgt. Larry Hustedde and officer Jeffrey Kaiser, who were the lone remaining defendants after the city and Chief Jerry Dyer were dismissed from the case by mutual consent of both sides.

Idalia Morgutia-Johnson, who is now 20, ran crying from the courtroom when the verdict was announced, followed quickly by her mother, also named Idalia. The plaintiff later was walked from Fresno’s federal courthouse sobbing in her mother’s arms.

“It was an emotional experience,” Kaiser said. “We’re human beings and we feel like other people feel. We were affected by some of the things that were said in (the courtroom), especially because we disagreed with so much that was said in there.”

Hustedde, who at the time was a school resource officer supervisor, said that with the recent focus on police officers after incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, he was happy that the jury heard both sides of the case and “came back quickly with a verdict in our favor. You just never know how the eight people in the jury box are seeing it.”

Nothing, it seems, was held back in the case.

Hustedde and Kaiser were portrayed as officers who overreacted and forgot their training, who assaulted Morgutia-Johnson by yanking her from a diner booth, forcing her arm behind her back and pushing her into the eatery’s door to open it, then slamming her into the police car trunk and pulling her up by her ponytail after she fell to the ground. The officers told one story, attorney Vicki Sarmiento said, only to change it when they learned there was video of the incident.

“She’s a 15-year-old kid and he’s a seasoned sergeant,” Sarmiento said of Hustedde. “He decided he didn’t like her attitude.”

But Morgutia-Johnson’s character was put under a microscope as well by defense attorney Mildred O’Linn. Her grade point average, fights she got in and the fact that she tested positive for marijuana while on pain medications after the incident were brought into the case. She also said Morgutia-Johnson was confrontational and disrespectful to Hustedde in the diner.

Idalia Morgutia said the characterizations of her daughter were unfair. There was no mention that her daughter was class president in eighth grade, was a peer counselor and was captain of the freshman basketball team. Supporters of Morgutia-Johnson also said two key elements were not allowed in the trial — that Morgutia-Johnson’s expulsion from Hoover as a result of the incident was overturned, and that a Fresno County Superior Court judge dismissed assault and resisting-arrest charges during her criminal trial.

“It wasn’t a fair trial,” said local activist Gloria Hernandez, who gave support to Idalia Morgutia during the trial. She said Morgutia-Johnson’s fights and marijuana had nothing to do with what happened between the officers and Morgutia-Johnson.

The incident took place in August 2010 at Big Mama’s, a restaurant that is now closed. Owners had asked Fresno police for help because large numbers of Hoover High students would crowd the eatery after school, but few would purchase anything.

Morgutia-Johnson, who just had started her sophomore year, said she, her brother and some friends were sitting in a booth at Big Mama’s restaurant when Hustedde said she had been in the restaurant too long without ordering. The girl showed the officer a receipt, saying she had ordered food. As the event escalated, the crowd became volatile and began yelling at the officers.

The two sides differ sharply on what happened after that. O’Linn even cast doubt on the receipt, saying another person had handed it to Morgutia-Johnson so she could stay in the diner.

If Morgutia-Johnson had followed the officers’ instructions, O’Linn told jurors, none of this would have happened. O’Linn poked holes in much of the case, questioning why key witnesses didn’t testify and how if Morgutia-Johnson alleged she was treated by officers, a photo of her a short time after the incident showed no injuries.

“I'm glad we made the decision to defend our officers,” Fresno City Manager Bruce Rudd said in a statement. “There are times you have to make a stand and this was certainly one of them.”

This story was originally published June 17, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Jury clears Fresno officers in federal civil rights case."