Jury deadlocks in trial of San Diego sheriff’s deputy accused of injuring restrained inmate

A San Diego federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday afternoon after a jury was unable to agree on a verdict for a sheriff’s deputy who was charged with violating a mentally ill detainee’s civil rights when he shoved the heavily restrained man into a wall, resulting in a serious spinal injury.

The trial of Jeremiah Manuyag Flores lasted about a week. The jury deliberated for parts of three days before deadlocking Wednesday afternoon on charges of deprivation of rights under the color of law and falsifying a record in a federal investigation.

Flores is scheduled to be retried next month.

During opening statements last week, an assistant U.S. attorney told the jury that surveillance footage showed Flores “walked away smiling” after leaving the 57-year-old injured detainee motionless on the floor of a holding cell in the basement of the San Diego Central Courthouse.

The prosecutor told jurors that Flores had been bickering with and mocking the man, who was heavily restrained and moving slowly, while escorting him to a courthouse holding cell after the man had a court hearing last August. When they reached the holding cell, Flores allegedly shoved the man, who had no way to stop or brace himself with his ankles chained together, his arms chained across his body and a chain connecting the ankle and wrist restraints.

The man allegedly slammed into a wall and bench, then slumped to the floor, where he remained for two hours without moving. He was later taken to a hospital, where doctors determined he had a spinal fracture that eventually required surgery and months of hospitalization.

Prosecutors also accused Flores of creating a false report about the incident in which he wrote that he had “nudged (the detainee) lightly” into the cell and that “no force was used.”

Defense attorney Miguel Peñalosa told the jury that Flores used what he believed at the time was a reasonable amount of force. The defense attorney had told the jurors they must decide the case on what Flores perceived in the moment without the benefit of hindsight.

Peñalosa also told the jurors that the main question of law was not whether Flores shoved the inmate too aggressively, but whether he had “specific intent” to violate his constitutional rights.

Peñalosa did not immediately respond Wednesday evening to a request for comment on the deadlocked jury and mistrial.

Earlier Wednesday, the defense attorney filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez to declare a mistrial even before the jury had come back with its decision. The motion argued that a note from the jurors had inadvertently revealed details of their deliberations that should not have been disclosed, and that Lopez’s written response to the jury may have therefore “had an unduly coercive effect.”

Lopez did not ultimately rule on that motion.

Sheriff Kelly Martinez, who was the first witness called to testify in the trial last week, said in a statement earlier this year when Flores was indicted that his alleged actions were unacceptable.

“Immediately upon hearing of the incident, an investigation was initiated, and Deputy Flores was placed on administrative assignment,” Martinez said in the statement. “The investigation led us to believe criminal actions occurred, and we presented the case to state and federal authorities.”

Flores is the second San Diego County sheriff’s deputy this year to have a mistrial declared after going on trial in San Diego federal court on charges of depriving a victim of their civil rights. In June, a jury was unable to reach a verdict for Aaron Russell, a former deputy who shot and killed Nicholas Bils in May 2020 outside the downtown San Diego Central Jail.

Russell is scheduled to be retried in February and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Flores faces up to 10 years in prison on the civil rights charge and up to 20 years on the charge of falsifying a record in a federal investigation.