Jury Deadlocked On Deputy Assault Case

A jury has deadlocked on whether an off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy assaulted a tow truck driver who was blocking a lane on Interstate 10, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial.

Richard Heverly, 43, is charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm, assault by a public officer, making criminal threats and false imprisonment.

It’s now up to the district attorney’s office whether they will re-try the case.

The five-woman, seven-man jury received the case late Thursday afternoon following nearly a week of testimony.

During closing arguments last week, Deputy District Attorney Amity Armes said Heverly lost his temper when he put a gun to the head of tow truck driver Roger Gilstrap on Aug. 10, 2008 and threatened to kill him for blocking a lane on Interstate 10.

“We know he was using excessive and unreasonable force because of all of the witnesses,” Armes said in his closing argument, adding that an officer is not acting within his duties when he uses excessive force.

Gilstrap testified that he blocked the right lane of traffic with his tow truck when he noticed a big rig on fire.

Gilstrap said Heverly pulled up in a red Dodge truck, pulled out his badge and yelled at the driver that his badge entitled him to do whatever he wanted.

While Gilstrap was on the phone with the California Highway Patrol, Heverly took the phone away and repeatedly told the driver to get out of the truck, according to trial testimony.

Gilstrap said he refused until Heverly went back to his truck to get a pistol.

The driver said he climbed down, and Heverly handcuffed his right arm. Gilstrap said he became cooperative, but Heverly pushed him against the bed of his truck.

“Once my head was pressed between his gun and the bed, he said, `Do you feel that? I have a gun in your ear. I’m going to kill you,”‘ Gilstrap said, adding that the defendant handcuffed his left arm.

Heverly’s attorney, Michael Schwartz, told the panel that his client was trying to control traffic by getting the driver to move, but Gilstrap would not listen.

“If the order is reasonable, we as citizens in this country have to obey,” Schwartz said.

He told jurors that Gilstrap committed a misdemeanor by ignoring Heverly’s orders.

The attorney argued that Heverly was acting in self-defense when he put the gun to the driver’s head. He said Gilstrap wouldn’t give the deputy his other hand to be handcuffed, and the restraining devices can be considered a deadly weapon.