I Team

Alex Nieto shooting case goes to jury San Francisco for deliberations

ByVic Lee

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Alex Nieto shooting case goes to SF jury for deliberations

A civil rights lawsuit filed against four San Francisco police officers by the parents of a man who was shot and killed was put into the hands of a federal jury in the city on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The jurors who will decide whether to compensate the family of a man shot to death by police two years ago heard desperately different versions of what happened during closing arguments on Wednesday. Now those eight jurors have to take those different accounts and come to a unanimous decision.

The jury got the case early Wednesday afternoon. They recessed around 5 p.m. and will be back Thursday morning to resume deliberations. The trial lasted seven days. And now we wait to see how long it'll take a jury to reach a decision.

The civil trial was mainly over conflicting versions of what happened when four officers shot and killed 28-year-old Alex Nieto at Bernal Heights Park.

"The story that they concocted was nothing but a story in order to cover up the death of a man who died way too soon," said Nieto family lawyer Adante Pointer.

In March two years ago, officers responded to a 911 call of a man with a gun. They encountered Nieto in the park. Officers say they fired when he appeared to draw a gun; a gun that turned out to be a Taser just like this one.

Police fired 59 shots. Fourteen of them struck Nieto.

Pointer called it "a one sided firefight."

Witness Antonio Theodore discounted the officers testimony that they first yelled, "Show us your hands," and that Nieto answered, "No, show me your hands."

He said he heard only "stop" and that Nieto actually had his hands in his pockets.

Defense lawyer Margaret Baumgartner was able to get the witness to admit he had a shaky memory from drinking, but Theodore told ABC7 News he told the truth about Nieto.

And then there was the piece of Nieto's wrist bone found in his jacket pocket.

Nieto's lawyers said that proves his hands were in there and not drawn.

But lawyers for the officers said none of the rounds penetrated the jacket.

"Because there were no holes in the pockets, again, that just proves that his hands weren't in his pockets," said Baumgartner.

In federal court, civil suits like criminal cases require unanimous jury verdicts.