Felon found guilty for causing CCPD officer’s death during pursuit

Update: 7/14/16 – Durjan Germaine Gray has been found guilty on all charges in the Cathedral City police officer’s death during a high speed pursuit in 2011.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 spoke to the cousin of the victim, Officer Jermaine Gibson, right after the sentence was read by a juror. Watch the interview in our live report on KESQ at 5 p.m. and on CBS Local 2 at 5:30 p.m.

Read the full statement from the Cathedral City Police Department.

The verdict came down Thursday, shortly before noon. Gray’s sentencing date is scheduled for September 19. He could face life in prison.

Court Report:

A felon who caused the death of a Cathedral City police officer during a high-speed chase in Palm Springs was convicted today of second- degree murder of a peace officer, DUI gross vehicular manslaughter, felony evading and DUI with a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation.

A jury found that Durjan Germaine Gray, 40, caused the death of Cathedral City police Officer Jermaine Gibson during a March 2011 vehicle pursuit. Gibson’s patrol car crashed into a tree as he and other officers pursued Gray from Cathedral City to Palm Springs. Jurors began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon and reached their verdict shortly before noon Thursday.

Gray could face 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 9.

In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Anthony Orlando told jurors Gray made a conscious decision to ignore pursuing officers and continue fleeing in hopes of avoiding capture, resulting in the crash.

A defense attorney argued, however, that the evidence against Gray does not support a murder charge, but at best a manslaughter count.

Orlando said the defendant alone created the situation that led to the high-speed pursuit that killed Officer Jermaine Gibson.

“He (Gray) didn’t care,” Orlando told jurors. “His main job was to get away and the community be damned, Officer Gibson be damned.” He added: “This case is about one death, one person seriously injured, four charges and one choice — the choice that this man made on March 18,
2011.”

Gray’s attorney, Greg Johnson, urged jurors to reject the murder charge.

“I’m not asking for sympathy for Mr. Gray. He doesn’t deserve it,” Johnson said. “But he deserves a fair trial.” Johnson said the prosecution did not prove that Gray acted with “implied malice,” which would indicate that he caused a death by knowingly acting dangerously and without regard for the welfare of others.

He argued that Gray was guilty of evading officers, but without any intent to harm them and echoed Orlando’s statements that Gray was primarily concerned with eluding the police.

“His intent was simply to get away,” Johnson said. “He didn’t want to hurt anybody. He didn’t want to kill anybody.”

Orlando insisted, however, that Gray alone was to blame for Gibson’s death and should be convicted of murder.

Speaking to the principle of implied malice, Orlando said that Gray’s reckless driving endangered the lives of officers and civilians in Cathedral City and Palm Springs, and that Gray’s two previous convictions for evading should have made him cognizant of the danger he was putting people in.

“Officer Gibson is not dead without the defendant driving the way he did,” the prosecutor said. “Officer Gibson was doing his job. He had every right to do what he did. This man (Gray) had an obligation to pull over and did not. Officer Gibson would not have been in Palm Springs if not for this man’s failure to stop.”

Gray fled from Gibson after the 28-year-old lawman attempted to stop him for an illegal U-turn on Date Palm Drive on the night of March 18, 2011. Another Cathedral City police officer, Alfredo Luna, quickly joined the pursuit, and he and Gibson sped after the defendant, who pushed the stolen Ford Mustang to 100 mph on city streets with no headlights, authorities said.

Gray — allegedly high on marijuana, methamphetamine and alcohol — crossed into Palm Springs within a couple of minutes and attempted to accelerate through a curve near South Palm Canyon Drive and Morongo Road.

Gibson was unable to negotiate the bend and slammed into a palm tree, igniting a fire, according to investigators. Luna said he came upon the crash a second or two after it happened. The Mustang had wrecked nearby, ejecting the defendant and his 47-year- old passenger, Dexter Coleman, leaving both with moderate injuries.

According to Luna, he ran to Gibson’s burning patrol car as three other officers arrived to assist. Luna and the officers used their batons in an attempt to pry open the doors to the vehicle — to no avail. They deployed fire extinguishers, trying to subdue the flames, but the car was well-involved in a matter of seconds, according to witnesses.

Luna said one officer used his patrol unit in an attempt to dislodge Gibson’s vehicle from the tree, but the car was literally wrapped around it. The officers managed to smash out the windows, and Luna was able to get hold of Gibson’s arms, he recalled during a 2013 preliminary hearing. Luna said that when the flames engulfed the front half of the car and reached Gibson’s
legs, he had to pull away because the heat was searing his hands, arms and face.

Gibson, a Beaumont resident, had been with the Cathedral City Police Department about 18 months and previously worked as a reserve officer with the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.

The former U.S. Marine had served two tours of duty in Iraq, where he was awarded a Purple Heart. He left behind a wife and infant son and was buried with full honors at Riverside National Cemetery.

Gray has prior convictions for auto theft, evading arrest, witness intimidation and possession of illegal drugs. He’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.