A former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of assaulting two jail inmates was sentenced Friday to a year on probation and ordered to attend 12 anger management classes and pay $360 in fees.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry rejected Deputy District Attorney Ann Marie Wise’s request for a one-year jail sentence for Jermaine W. Jackson, 38.
The judge noted that he had presided over the trials of several other former law enforcement officers and is not reluctant to sentence them to state prison or county jail when he believes it is appropriate, but said he was “troubled by the case.”
He cited the actions of a sheriff’s Internal Affairs investigator who, he said, turned off a tape recorder during an interview of a jail employee.
“I found that behavior to be outrageous,” the judge said. “Trials are supposed to be searches for the truth.”
But the judge said he felt he should “respect” the jury’s April 22 verdict of guilt on three misdemeanor counts of simple assault involving two inmates, noting that he rejected a defense motion seeking to throw out Jackson’s conviction on those charges.
Jurors acquitted the former deputy of the most serious charges — three felony counts each of assault likely to cause great bodily injury, assault by a public officer and filing a false report.
Jackson was charged with assaulting three inmates — Cesar Campana, Derek Griscavage and Jonathan Murray — in separate incidents in a Compton lockup and Twin Towers Correctional Facility between 2009 and 2011.
Jurors found him guilty of the lesser assault charges involving Campana and Griscavage, but acquitted him of all counts involving Murray.
Jackson admitted that he punched Murray in the eye when “he tried to kick me in the groin.” He also acknowledged that he punched Campana in the ear and kicked him in the head, saying that was the only way he could control the inmate.
Jackson testified that Griscavage head-butted him during a physical encounter.
One of Jackson’s attorneys, Vicki Podberesky, told jurors that Jackson used reasonable force to protect himself and others, and another of his lawyers, Richard Hirsch, said Jackson worked in the mental health section of the jail “with inmates who were violent, unpredictable” and suffered from psychotic episodes when they failed to take their medication.
Wise countered that Jackson “solves problems in the jail with his fists.”
Outside court after the sentencing, the prosecutor said, “While it is unfortunate that the defendant’s conduct is essentially going unpunished, it is not unexpected given the court’s comments and rulings during trial.”
Hirsch told the judge that his client had lost his job and “suffered tremendously because of this case.”
–City News Service