Trial opens in backyard drowning of ex-San Bernardino police officer’s wife

A former San Bernardino Police Department detective charged with drowning his wife in their backyard Jacuzzi didn’t expect a startled witness — peering through an opening in a block wall — to thwart his cover-up, prosecutors told jurors Thursday.

Blair Christopher Hall, 51, faces a single count of murder in the June 7, 2007, death of Cristi Lynne Hall behind their Calimesa home.

Free on $1 million bail, he sat inside a Riverside courtroom wearing a polo shirt and slacks, listening to Deputy District Attorney Burke English Strunsky during opening statements call the case one of “violent betrayal.” Later, his lawyer phrased it as a tragic accident.

Cristi Hall and her husband of nearly 30 years had gone out to the backyard hot tub that weekday morning just after 6 a.m., intending to bathe as their shower was being remodeled, Strunsky said. Their 22-year-old daughter slept upstairs.

According to Strunsky, the couple was in the tub together when the defendant forcibly pushed Cristi Hall’s head under the water and held it.

“She thrashes about, she struggles,” he told jurors. “She desperately struggles to get a final breath.”

Injuries to Cristi Hall included “massive bruising” and head lacerations, the prosecutor said. She also had some of her husband’s DNA under her fingernails, which Strunsky said pointed to her fighting back.

Blair Hall eventually got out of the tub, toweled off and went inside to wake his daughter. He then returned outside and wailed at the discovery of his lifeless wife, according to the prosecutor.

Judge: Police violated San Bernardino man’s rights

A federal judge has found that members of a San Bernardino Police Department narcotics team intentionally violated a suspected drug dealer’s rights when they arrested him and inspected his apartment before a search warrant was signed.This means that evidence found in 46-year-old Vincent Young‘s North Mountain View Avenue home last year – allegedly including ammunition, drugs and cash – is not admissible at trial.

Officials said they were surprised by the bold language used in U.S. District Court Judge Robert H. Whaley‘s 16-page ruling on Feb. 18.

The judge says he does not believe Officer Gerald Beall‘s testimony and compares the Jan. 6, 2009, search to other alleged misconduct by the narcotics team.

“The officer’s conduct is strikingly similar to conduct that has been the target of both internal and external investigation by the” San Bernardino Police Department, Whaley wrote.

Charges against San Bernardino police officer’s accuser dropped

FONTANA – Criminal charges against a man who accused an embattled San Bernardino Police Department sergeant of illegally detaining and searching him were dismissed Friday.Gregory Parker has spent nearly three years questioning the circumstances of his Sept. 18, 2007, arrest and fighting the two counts of possessing marijuana and receiving stolen property he was later charged with.

During a scheduled court hearing in Fontana Superior Court on Friday, supervising deputy district attorney Richard Alan Young said all charges were being dropped due to “insufficiency of evidence and in the interest of justice.”

He declined to provide specifics about why the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office was no longer interested in pursuing charges.

Parker’s defense attorney, Gary Wenkle Smith, said his client was “elated” and lauded the system for making justice its priority.

Army recruiter arrested in sex case

For the second time in less than a year, an Inland military recruiter has been arrested on suspicion of engaging in a sex act with an underage girl.

Christian Rigal Mercado, 25, of Moreno Valley, was jailed Wednesday after a security guard at the Inland Center Mall in San Bernardino reported that he saw him involved with the girl inside a parked car. Mercado later posted $50,000 bail.

The 17-year-old girl was a potential U.S. Army recruit, said San Bernardino Police Department Lt. Dan Keil.

Mercado, who was booked on suspicion of oral copulation with a minor, worked as a recruiter out of the Army’s office on Mt. Vernon Avenue in San Bernardino. He has been suspended from recruiting duties pending an investigation, army officials said.

“We’re a values-based organization, and basically, we have no tolerance for infractions of the law,” said Nya Paul, a spokeswoman for the Army’s Southern California Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Inland region’s offices.

Witness says officer shot unarmed teenager

SAN BERNARDINO – A teenaged boy lay on the ground – unarmed – with his arms out to his sides when a police officer kicked him twice in the face, took a step back and opened fire, a witness testified Thursday.

Atusabai Taimalia told the jury he was sitting at a table on his back porch drinking coffee and smoking with his mother when he saw Terrell Markham run into a courtyard at the corner of N. Medical Center Drive and Temple Street and hide behind a bush.

About 40 feet behind Markham, who was then 16, came Officer Adam Affrunti, who was holding his service firearm in his right hand as he yelled for the teen to stop.

Taimalia said the officer threw Markham, grabbed the teen’s jacket, threw him on the ground and kicked him in the left side of the face.

See also:

Some of SB cop, Adam Affrunti’s, violent past allowed in criminal trial for teen

Jurors to hear criminal past of San Bernardino teen shot by officer with 5 prior shootings

Some of SB cop, Adam Affrunti’s, violent past allowed in criminal trial for teen

SAN BERNARDINO – It has become a battle of the backgrounds.Attorneys on Thursday continued their struggle to keep jurors from hearing about past violent conduct for two key players in a criminal trial scheduled to start next week.

The players are Terrell Markham, an 18-year-old man accused of pulling a stolen gun on a police officer, and Officer Adam Affrunti, who had shot five people prior to these two tangling on Nov. 17, 2007.

Despite the prosecutor’s repeated objections, San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Ronald Christianson on Thursday ruled that one of the officer’s past shootings and one case of alleged excessive force is admissible at trial because of the possible similarities to the Markham shooting.

See also: Jurors to hear criminal past of San Bernardino teen shot by officer with 5 prior shootings

San Bernardino Police Hold Sister Hostage, Threaten Children in Attempt to Coerce Burglar

SAN BERNARDINO – Wylena Andrews landed in jail, she says, because police wanted her brother for burglarizing a sergeant’s house.

When they couldn’t find him, they took Andrews as a bargaining chip and threatened to haul her siblings off to Child Protective Services unless her brother turned himself in.

“I kept saying I hadn’t done anything, but they put me in the cell and that’s where I stayed,” Andrews, 30, recalled of the day San Bernardino Police Department officers charged into her family’s Fontana home in 2006. “I fell asleep crying. I was just devastated. They basically played me and acted like it was all a big joke.”

Andrews claims that in holding her against her will without probable cause, police violated her civil rights. She blames San Bernardino police Sgt. Brad Lawrence, whose tumultuous career has landed him in the middle of several internal and criminal investigations over the years.

See also:

San Bernardino Police Sgt. Bradley Lawrence

Investigation into “on ice” allegations against San Bernardino police sergeant reopened

iePolitics Commentary: Sheriff Hoops, Part 2

Sheriff Rod Hoops let’s continue from my last posting.

I do not want our readers to think that misconduct such as the credentials falsification issue with Sheriff’s Captain Bart Gray is nothing but an aberration.

It is actually the opposite. In other words it happens quite frequently.

Not only are special accommodations made for ranking employees when caught committing crimes, so are their family members. More often than not.

And to be fair to you, I acknowledge that this pattern and practice is nothing you designed or created. You are simply picking up where others have left off, and carrying on the culture and traditions of the department.

Maybe people will realize this is why some are appointed Sheriff within the ranks versus the County seeking outside applicants.

Jurors to hear criminal past of San Bernardino teen shot by officer with 5 prior shootings

SAN BERNARDINO – A jury will get to hear about the possible gang involvement and criminal history of a teenager who was shot by police two years ago after allegedly reaching for a gun at the end of a foot chase.

It is undecided, however, whether the jury will learn about the officer’s five prior shootings.

Terrell Markham, 18, has been identified by police as a gang associate. His juvenile record began at age 7 and includes robbery, punching a teacher and shooting someone with a B.B. gun, court documents show.

Adam Affrunti spent years on the police department’s SWAT and gang team before switching to patrol this year. He has been involved in six on-duty shootings in his seven-year career.

Man beaten by police finds his shop robbed

A man captured on a cell phone video being beaten by police has spoken to officers since his release from jail after authorities declined to file charges against him.

But the conversation wasn’t about the arrest or the video.

Darren Johnson, 43, the owner of a San Bernardino barber shop, found his Sierra Avenue business burglarized and ransacked after his release from custody.

“He doesn’t know who’s responsible for that. And he had to file a report with the same department that brutalized him,” said Carl Edwin Douglas a Beverly Hills-based attorney representing Johnson.

Douglas said Johnson discovered the break-in Oct. 28, several days after he was released from West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

Police confirmed the burglary but said no one had been arrested. They were investigating.

“It appears just miscellaneous property was taken,” police Lt. Dan Keil said.

Douglas said he is trying to track down witnesses who saw Johnson’s Oct. 19 arrest at the corner of Highland and Mountain View avenues in a 7-Eleven parking lot. One person filmed Johnson’s arrest using a cell phone. The video shows a San Bernardino officer striking Johnson repeatedly with a baton.

Police have said they pulled over Johnson for various vehicle-code violations and that he became agitated and struck one of the officers while they were talking to him. An officer then began hitting Johnson with a baton while another tried to handcuff him.

Police arrested Johnson on suspicion of possessing and transporting drugs, as well as assault on a peace officer.

Johnson denied ever being in possession of drugs, Douglas said.

“I have no idea where that allegation came from,” he said.

The San Bernardino man spent several days at Loma Linda University Medical Center before he was booked into jail. Since then, he has received regular therapy for his injuries.

“Right now, he is receiving therapy for compound fractures of several bones in his hand. He is seeking therapy for problems with his eyesight and vision. He will be seeking therapy for the horrific bruises to his shoulder, side and leg,” Douglas said. “And he will be receiving therapy for staples on his head from the blows he suffered there.”

The attorney said Johnson plans to file a claim with the department regarding the beating, but he did not specify when.

“We’ll worry about the legal process once we get him healthy,” Douglas said.

Meanwhile, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said there was nothing new regarding the criminal charges against Johnson.

“That is still pending review and further investigation,” said district attorney’s spokeswoman Susan Mickey.

Johnson’s barbershop, called The Shop, has been closed since his Oct. 19 arrest. His injuries have kept him in bed and unable to run his business.

Wife of beaten suspect struggling with unanswered questions

SAN BERNARDINO – A San Bernardino barber shop owner who was the subject of a videotaped beating by police was held nearly two days without being booked into jail or charged, and denied a phone call, an attorney for his family said Wednesday.

CBS-KCAL video: Caught on tape: Officer Beats Suspect With Baton

It was only after the Mayor‘s office intervened on the family’s behalf Wednesday afternoon that Darren Johnson, 43, was allowed to call his wife and tell her what had happened.

Johnson reportedly told his wife in a call from Loma Linda University Medical Center that he suffered a compound fracture to his hand, and has stitches to both legs and his head, among other injuries.

An iPhone video of his arrest taken by an eyewitness shows an officer repeatedly striking him with a baton while another officer holds him on the ground in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven at the corner of Highland and Mountain View avenues.

Suspect whose beating by San Bernardino police was caught on videotape is released from custody

SAN BERNARDINO – The barbershop owner who was the subject of a videotaped beating by San Bernardino Police Department officers was released from custody Friday, according to the lawyer who is representing his longtime girlfriend. Darren Johnson, 43, who was struck repeatedly with a baton while being arrested at a 7-Eleven on Monday night, was at home recovering as of Saturday, said Gary Wenkle Smith, a San Bernardino attorney.

Smith said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department deputies went into Johnson’s room at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton on Friday and told him since no charges had been filed by the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office that he was being released from custody.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said that if time is up for someone in custody and the district attorney has not filed charges, it’s the Sheriff’s Department’s responsibility to release the person.

Because of the extent of Johnson’s injuries, including a broken right hand and bruises and cuts from head to toe, he remained in the hospital Friday night and was taken home by Smith on Saturday morning, the lawyer said.

San Bernardino Police Department examining video of suspect being beaten

SAN BERNARDINO – The San Bernardino Police Department on Tuesday was scrutinizing an eyewitness video which shows an officer repeatedly striking a motorist with a baton while another officer tries to hold the suspect down.Police Lt. Dan Keil said Darren Johnson, a 43-year-old San Bernardino resident, was pulled over at about 10:30 p.m. Monday in the 200 block of West Highland Ave.

Two officers witnessed several vehicle code violations, including failure to stop at a stop sign and failure to stop at a traffic signal, Keil said.

“After being contacted, he became increasingly agitated and aggressive and struck one of the officers,” Keil said.

Johnson was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of possession of cocaine, transportation of cocaine and assault on a peace officer, Keil said.

Keil said Tuesday that he did not immediately know whether the officers would be suspended, but that the incident is under investigation.

Man at San Bernardino mental health dies after being stunned with a Taser

A 19-year-old man died late Friday after San Bernardino Police Department officers used a Taser on him at a residential mental health facility, authorities said.

Police were called to Orchid Court, 307 S. Arrowhead Ave., around 11:30 p.m. regarding a fight involving three people, according to a news release.

Officers separated the three, but one of them became combative and was “tased,” police said.

Following standard procedure, officers called paramedics to treat the unidentified man. Paramedics started to examine the man, who stopped breathing, police said.

The man was taken to a St. Bernardine Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the San Bernardino County coroner’s office. An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death.

Friday’s fatality occurred at a residential mental health center listed as one of the partners of the county’s Office of Behavioral Health. Orchid Court is a state-licensed assisted living facility.

The incident marks the third time in less than three months that a suspect has died shortly after being stunned with a Taser by police in the Inland area. Jonathan Nelson, 27, of Rancho Cucamonga was stunned twice on July 30, once by deputies in Hemet and again in a Riverside County jail cell.

Family of man shot by San Bernardino police hires lawyer

The family of Cedric May Jr., who was shot and killed by San Bernardino police on Monday, has hired a lawyer. The family says May was repeatedly tased and then shot while handcuffed; police say May grabbed the taser and pointed it at an officer’s head.

Officers Lack First Amendment Right to Complain About Supervisors

Complaints by police officers about their supervisors’ conduct are not protected by the First Amendment, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.

Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, writing for a divided panel that affirmed a judgment in favor of the city of San Bernardino, said the dispute was an intradepartmental matter and not a subject of public concern.

Judge Pamela Ann Rymer agreed, while dissenting Judge Kim M. Wardlaw argued that matters involving “the performance, functioning, and mismanagement of government agencies” may implicate employee free speech rights.

The plaintiffs in the case, Michael Desrochers and Steve Lowes, are among four SBPD sergeants who filed an internal grievance against a lieutenant in April 2006. While the other two accepted an informal resolution, Desrochers and Lowes formally accused their superior of criticizing them in front of others and acting unprofessionally in other ways, including placing the department in a negative light by making critical comments in meetings with officers from other agencies.

The pair claimed that it was in retaliation for that grievance that Desrochers was transferred over his objection from the Homicide Unit that he had headed to the Robbery Unit, and that Lownes was suspended for two weeks. They also claimed that then-Chief Michael Billdt and the assistant chief failed to take appropriate corrective action in response to their grievance.

Billdt retired earlier this year, following a plebiscite in which three-quarters of the officers indicated a lack of confidence in his leadership, and was replaced by former Bell Gardens Chief Keith Kilmer.

Attorney for family of man killed by SB police calls for investigation

Relatives of a 23-year-old man shot and killed in a restaurant parking lot May 2 by San Bernardino police have a retained an attorney, saying the man was unarmed during the incident.Officers shot Christopher Robert Mason of San Bernardino in the parking lot of a Denny’s at 702 E. Highland Ave. after responding to a call at 3:26 a.m. about men armed with handguns, according to a police department news release.

Mason had refused to drop a handgun, according to the news release.

On Saturday, Burbank-based attorney Dennis P. Wilson called for an external investigation into the shooting during a roundtable meeting of civil rights activists in Los Angeles.

“We’ve been retained by the family to investigate what was going on there,” Wilson said. “And it appears that it’s just another case of a senseless shooting that has taken place because of reckless and dangerous acts that have been perpetrated by members of the San Bernardino Police Department,” Wilson said.

Wilson claimed that he has talked to witnesses at the scene of the shooting. He demanded that police release the Denny’s surveillance videotape of the incident.

Mason’s 21-year-old girlfriend, Nykisha Ellison, said Saturday when the shooting started, she was in the front passenger seat of the car they drove to the restaurant.

Mason waited outside the restaurant while his brother, Willie, went inside to pick up an order of food, she said.

She heard gunshots,

turned around and saw Mason walking toward her, she said. She then heard the police yell the word “gun.”Ellison said Mason, who was facing her as he approached the car, yelled, “I ain’t got nothing” to the police just before police shot.

Police have declined to comment on the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

Relatives and friends of Mason gathered Friday night for a candlelight vigil in the parking lot where the shooting occurred.

The ceremony was led by Eddie Jones, president of the Los Angeles Civil Rights Association.

“It was an injustice, what happened here that night,” Jones said.

Inland police adjust to vehicle search limits set by Supreme Court

Inland police agencies may have to revamp some policies in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that limited officers’ ability to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested who poses no threat.

Some Inland officials say there will be little impact on the ability of police to do their jobs, while others have argued the ruling means officers will be less safe.

Critics have also said the decision means weapons that would have been found during such vehicle searches will now remain on the street and lead to other crimes.

“The U.S. Supreme Court sets the legal standard and the DA’s office follows the law,” said John Hall, spokesman for Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, in an e-mail. “We will be looking at this for an arrest and what led to any search, then make any filing decisions accordingly.”

See also; Supreme Court Cuts Back Officers’ Searches of Vehicles

View San Bernardino Police Chief-designate Keith Kilmer’s resume

Here’s a copy of City Hall’s press release on incoming San Bernardino Police Chief Keith Kilmer’s appointment. The announcement includes a copy of Kilmer’s resume and his employment offer.

SB Now readers may remember that current Police Chief Michael Billdt’s resume was not made public until September of last year. The release confirmed that Billdt rose to the rank of chief without earning a four-year degree from an accredited college or university, but did receive one from a now-defunct school in Orange County called August Vollmer University.

Kilmer Resume

San Bernardino Police Kill Mental Patient

SAN BERNARDINO – Meki Samatua said she called police to her home late Wednesday to help control her mentally ill brother, who was running through the halls and yelling in a threatening manner.

Her intent was to get Penimina Sue to the hospital, she said.

“He only make noise, but never strike you,” Samatua said Thursday, the morning after San Bernardino police fatally shot Sue, 47, during the disturbance.

“It’s only pretend,” Samatua said.

Investigators tell a different story. When the first officer arrived at the house in the 200 block of South Golden Avenue, the 6-foot, 250-pound Sue picked up an 8-foot-long wooden beam from the back yard and swung it at him, they said.

A baton wouldn’t have been a match, so the officer first fired his Taser gun in an attempt to subdue Sue, said homicide Sgt. Dave Dillon. That had no apparent effect, Dillon said. Sue continued to charge at the officer with the heavy two-by-four hoisted over his head.

The officer then shot Sue twice in the stomach with his handgun. Sue fell, and died less than an hour later at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

SB police captain files claim against city

San Bernardino: A police captain filed a claim this week, accusing two city leaders of trying to sabotage his promotion because he supports the embattled police chief.Capt. Brian Boom also claims the officials – City Councilwoman Wendy McCammack and City Attorney James F. Penman – copied and destroyed his personnel file.

Boom declined to comment on his claim. His attorney, Geoffrey Hopper, said in a voicemail message that the case is “an ongoing legal matter and we’re not going to able to comment on this.”

The timeline of Boom’s October promotion coincided with one of the recurring flare ups between police brass and the department’s rank-and-file.

See also:

San Bernardino police deliver second no confidence vote in top brass

San Bernardino Police Sgt. Bradley Lawrence

Review of San Bernardino Police Department policies sought

Police “High-Speed Chases:” Another Innocent Life Taken

A 67-year-old San Bernardino woman died early Saturday when a man fleeing police slammed into her car, police said.

Ruby Lene Johnson was driving a 1995 Toyota Camry west on Base Line at about 12:30 a.m. when a speeding 2007 Scion traveling north on Mount Vernon Avenue ran a red light and hit her car, authorities said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the San Bernardino County coroner’s office said.

Ex-SoCal officer pleads guilty in violence case

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.—A former police officer has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of hitting his girlfriend and putting a gun to her head.

Gregory White Jr. pleaded guilty Friday to corporal injury charges and will serve 60 days in jail and participate in domestic violence court. An assault with a firearm charge was dismissed against the 32-year-old.

White was arrested on Wednesday following the Jan. 4 incident. Authorities say his live-in girlfriend needed medical attention but wasn’t admitted to a hospital.

Prosecutors say White no longer works for the San Bernardino Police Department.

View Case Report

San Bernardino Police Sgt. Bradley Lawrence

In the 10 weeks since San Bernardino authorities placed a police sergeant on paid administrative leave, he’s attended leadership classes at city expense and entered city facilities, records show. Police union President Rich Lawhead said he’s also received reports of Sgt. Bradley Lawrence using computers on weekends at a secure narcotics squad facility that is separate from the Police Department headquarters. More on Lawrence here