Well here you go haters! What happened in the end. The airman that was shot was a passenger in the car. Reason for stop. Reckless driving in a corvette. After leading the police in a 100 mph pursuit they crashed. The airman and the driver were drunk .16 BAC. This is not my words, the Officer said that when the driver got up, he reached into his jacket for what he thought was a weapon. I'm not passing judgment just information.
Also the Judge has the right to change the verdict by the jury if he thinks its appropriate. Happy reading.
SAN BERNARDINO - It took jurors barely two hours Thursday to acquit Ivory J. Webb Jr., the first San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy to face criminal charges for an on-duty shooting.
"Mr. Webb, you're free to go," said San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael Smith, ending a one-month trial for the January 2006 videotaped shooting by Webb of a drunken, unarmed off-duty military policeman after a car chase in Chino.
With news photographers filming from the witness stand and spectators spilling out of the courtroom into a hallway, the verdict prompted the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Webb to bear-hug both of his attorneys simultaneously and clench his hands over his head in celebration and victory.
Outside the courtroom, Webb thanked God, the jury, his family and supporters.
But he declined to discuss the case because, his attorneys said, federal prosecutors still could charge him with violating the civil rights of 23-year-old Air Force military policeman Elio Carrion, whom he shot three times. Federal officials have declined to comment about their plans.
Webb, 46, who left the force after the shooting, could have been imprisoned for almost 20 years if convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter or assault with a firearm.
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Greg Vojtko / The Press-Enterprise
Ex-San Bernardino County sheriff's Deputy Ivory Webb embraces attorney Michael Schwartz after the verdicts.
"We believe he believed he was in danger," said Richard Day, a member of the jury that decided, in effect, that Webb fired in self-defense.
Webb chased a Corvette at speeds reaching 100 mph before it crashed on a dark street. The lone officer confronted two inebriated suspects, including Carrion.
Carrion and the driver, 22-year-old Luis Fernando Escobedo, were later determined to have a blood alcohol level of 0.16, twice the presumed legal limit for drunken driving.
Escobedo pleaded guilty in November to drunken driving and evading police for his role in the chase. He was sentenced to six months in jail in January. He served four months, getting two off for good behavior.
The videotape, filmed by a neighborhood resident, appears to show that Webb opened fire as Carrion was complying with orders and gestures to get up off the ground.
Actions Seen as Reasonable
But jurors accepted the defense's contention that Webb saw Carrion reach toward his jacket -- as if grabbing for a gun -- and sprang to his feet as if lunging to attack the officer, said Day and juror Michael Thompson.
"I think, from Ivory's point of view, that was the straw that broke the camel's back," Day said. "He did everything that a reasonable officer would do in his position.
"You have to look at the totality of what happened, not just that minute-and-a-half video."
Another juror heaped the blame squarely on Carrion and Escobedo.
"If they would have just shut their mouths and did what he said, none of this would have happened," said juror Linda Goldstein. "I couldn't see (Webb) going to prison. If they don't shoot you on the job, they prosecute you? No one would be a deputy."
Carrion suffered three .45-caliber bullet wounds in his chest, left shoulder and thigh, but he has returned to desk duty at an Air Force base in Louisiana.
Attorney, Brother Upset
"Physically, he's unable to resume his (military) career," said attorney Luis Carrillo, who has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit on behalf of Carrion seeking an unspecified amount of money from Webb and the Sheriff's Department.
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The lawyer blasted Thursday's not-guilty verdict.
"The residents of San Bernardino (County) are so conservative, they put police officers above the law," he said. "There is no justice."
"I don't think it was a good call. I wasn't happy after they read the verdict," said Hector Carrion, brother of Elio Carrion.
Hector Carrion said the judge ordered the family not to show emotion when the verdict was read, regardless of the outcome. He said his sister, 24-year-old Veronica Carrion, began to cry after the verdict was read, and he comforted her. Bailiffs made them leave the courtroom.
"I guess it was OK for him (Webb) because he's a cop and got to show emotion," Hector Carrion said.
Carrion's Dad Not Surprised
Heliodoro Carrion, Elio Carrion's father, said he expected a not-guilty verdict because the trial was in San Bernardino County.
"There are many cases where the police are involved in something like this and nothing has ever been done to them," Heliodoro Carrion said in Spanish in front of his home in Chino.
A photograph of his son wearing his Air Force uniform sat near an altar of the Virgin Mary. A Mexican flag and a military flag flew above the image.
"When I heard the verdict I was upset, but what can I say? That is how it happens over here."
Heliodoro Carrion said he believes his son doesn't want to comment at this point because he is waiting for his anger to subside.
"Elio has in his mind what happened, so he's probably mad thinking 'Why is this man free, he shot me three times?' " Heliodoro Carrion said.
The family called for the community to join them Monday at 11 a.m. in Los Angeles to ask the U.S. attorney general to prosecute Webb.
"The jury didn't try to see what really happened," Heliodoro Carrion said. "They try to say (Webb) was stressed but that doesn't give you the right to shoot somebody. I am stressed right now but I don't have the right to shoot somebody."
Elio Carrion's mother, Carmen Carrion, said it is hard to explain how she feels.
"This so-called officer is supposed to have experience, so why did he shoot my son three times," she asked. "The jury, they were no good."
Carmen Carrion said her son's wife told her Carrion went straight to his room when he got out of work and said he doesn't want to talk with anyone right now.
Connie Madrigal, Elio Carrion's godmother, said the verdict was a great injustice.
"It's not going to end here," she said. "I think the jury didn't take this too seriously, so we have to go a little further now for Elio. Where is the justice?"
Prosecutor Knew Challenge
Webb's prosecutor said he disagrees with the verdict -- but respects it.
"Obviously, we're disappointed in the verdict, but we're very committed to the jury system," said San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope.
Prosecutors knew it would be difficult to convict a police officer, but they believed they had a strong case, said Supervising Deputy District Attorney Dwight Moore.
"The question remains unanswered: What do we need to get a conviction, for crying out loud?" Moore said. "This was the best, most prosecutable case we have seen, and it still wasn't enough."
Juries don't want to believe a police officer would commit a crime, he said.
"The only thing we can take away from this," Moore said, "is the question: Is it impossible to convict a police officer?"
Webb's attorney argued that the defense team started off "behind the 8 ball," because most of the jury had seen the videotape on television long before they set foot in the courthouse.
"Once you make a conclusion (based on an initial viewing of the tape), it's hard to back away from it," Webb's attorney, Michael Schwartz, said about the average person. "Thank God, they did have an open mind."
As for Webb, the attorney said, "My client did his best -- under difficult circumstances -- to do his job and do it right."
Staff writers Adam Hartmann, Michael Mello and Gregor McGavin contributed to this report.
