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Jury convinced by LV detective, says inquest panel's forewoman
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JEFF SCHIED/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Darcy, who declined to give his last name, embraces his sister Sequioa Pearce after she testified Friday during a coroner's inquest at the Regional Justice Center. Pearce's fiancé, Trevon Cole, was shot and killed in the couple's apartment when Las Vegas police executed a drug search warrant on June 11. » Buy this photo
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Trevon Cole
Unarmed suspect was shot to death by police during a June drug raid at his home
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Aug. 23, 2010 | 1:58 p.m.
The testimony from a Las Vegas police detective who said he feared for his life when he fatally shot an unarmed man during a June drug raid convinced seven jurors that the action was justifiable, a Clark County coroner's inquest jury forewoman said Sunday.
The inquest jury took 90 minutes on Saturday to consider two days of witness testimony and physical evidence that contradicted the story of the shooter, Las Vegas police Detective Bryan Yant, before making the call in one of the more controversial shootings involving an officer in recent history.
"His testimony was taken in high regard," said Shannon, 35, the forewoman who asked that her last name be withheld. "His (testimony) was very important to what we were being informed about. He was the only one who witnessed the entire thing."
During the inquest, Yant told jurors that 21-year-old Trevon Cole raised his hands toward him in a shooting stance during the June 11 drug raid at the man's east valley apartment, causing the detective to believe his life was in danger. Prosecutors suggested Saturday that Yant had accidentally pulled the trigger as he kicked open the door to the bathroom where Cole was hiding, but Yant never wavered from his story.
"Unfortunately, he made an aggressive act toward me," Yant testified Saturday. "He made me do my job."
An inquest is a fact-finding process -- not a trial -- in which a majority of jurors decide whether the actions of police are justified, excusable or criminal. An inquest jury's finding is non binding. Prosecutors have discretion over filing charges.
Shannon said the jury never considered Yant's actions criminal because it assumed that "intent" to harm was necessary for an action to be considered criminal . She said that the instructions given to the jury before deliberations didn't define what constitutes a criminal ruling.
The forewoman, who works in the medical field, said each juror considered finding the shooting excusable. A death is excusable if the officer takes a life while "doing a lawful act, without any intention of killing, yet unfortunately kills another," according to the coroner's inquest jury instructions.
The jury ultimately ruled the shooting justified because Yant was adamant that he thought Cole had a gun and maintained that the shooting was not an accident, the forewoman said. A killing is justified if an officer feels his or her life, or the life of another, is in jeopardy.
Andre Lagomarsino, the attorney who represents the Cole family, plans to file a civil rights lawsuit and possibly a civil racketeering lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department. He said Sunday that he was angry that no one gave jurors more detailed instructions before they began their deliberations.
"It was presented to them like a multiple-choice question," Lagomarsino told the Review-Journal. "A: justified. B: excusable. C: blank. D: either questions A or B."
He equated the process to a "rubber stamp" for police, a criticism that's also been voiced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
ACLU attorney Maggie McLetchie stated in a Saturday e-mail that the Clark County district attorney's office needs to prepare jurors better.
The jury never received an adequate explanation about "how they could ever find criminal homicide and, under the language written by the DA, it would be hard to imagine any meaningful limits on a police officer's use of deadly force," she wrote.
According to the coroner's records, 194 inquests have been held since 1976. Only once has a jury ruled the actions of law enforcement to be criminal.
During the inquest, prosecutors questioned Yant about mistakes that were made in the police work that led to the raid. Despite having a copy of Cole's California driver's license complete with a physical description and date of birth, Yant confused Cole with a Trevon Cole from Houston and California, who was seven years older, at least 3 inches shorter and 100 pounds lighter.
The other Trevon Cole had several marijuana possession charges on his record; the Trevon Cole targeted by Yant had none. The false information on the affidavit was used by a judge to authorize a nighttime search warrant raid.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Owens also said that evidence, such as the position of Cole's body, the downward angle of the bullet through his cheek to his neck and testimony from other officers, pointed toward an accidental discharge.
Only one of six officers crammed into the tiny one-bedroom apartment heard Yant give any orders to Cole. The officer who did hear Yant give orders said he didn't hear Yant say anything about Cole's hands.
According to the medical examiner and homicide detective who investigated the case, Cole turned in Yant's direction while crouched over the toilet. Based on how Cole's body was found, the medical examiner found it highly unlikely that Cole took a step toward Yant, as the detective claimed.
Cole was flushing drugs before he was shot by Yant with an AR-15 rifle, prosecutors said.
The jury forewoman said the evidence that Cole was selling drugs did not influence the jury's decision. She did say, however, that testimony from Cole's fiancée, Sequioa Pearce, was not credible.
Pearce, who was nine months pregnant when the couple's apartment was raided, testified that she witnessed the shooting and that Cole had his hands raised when he was shot.
However, the forewoman said several police officers had placed Pearce in the closet of her one-bedroom apartment, a location where she would have been unable to see the bathroom shooting.
Shannon also said although the affidavit containing wrong information painted Cole as a serious and violent drug dealer, testimony from other officers made it clear they are always on "heightened awareness" when executing search warrants.
Shannon said the jury's decision was not an easy one, especially with members of Cole's family in the courtroom.
"It's heartbreaking to go in there knowing the family is wanting one thing, and you're not able to give them what they want."
Immediately after the verdict, Sheriff Doug Gillespie announced that all forced-entry warrants, such as the one conducted by Yant's squad, would be carried out only by SWAT teams until the department reviews its policies.
Gillespie said Yant and Sgt. John Harney, the senior officer at the scene, are both facing internal investigations for possible policy violations related to the raid at Cole's apartment. Yant also must face the department's use of force board, which is standard in all shootings involving officers. This was Yant's third shooting -- two of them fatal -- in his 10 years with the department .
Police Protective Association union President Chris Collins said the inquest jury's decision showed Yant did nothing wrong the night Cole was killed.
"The ruling does not surprise me," Collins said Sunday. "Our officers do a great job out there. It's unfortunate that Mr. Cole lost his life."
Lagomarsino said he's not deterred by the jury's decision. "He (Yant) gets to go back to work and so do I."
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
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Well maukfawk, so what he filled out the paperwork beforehand..Big friggin deal..Now if he filled it out and it wasnt accurate and then turned it in and testified by lying, then fire his butt..Your right he shouldnt be a cop if he cant do the job by the book. Im not going to question whether he did right or wrong after a jury of his peers said there was no "Criminal act" Get off your high horse and next time be on the jury. Oh but maybe you would have to lie to justify your means to get a cop. Im sooo glad that you dont smoke,buy or sell weed..That just means you wont get shot..Ohhh by the way the judge would sign a nighttime warrant , now you dont have to doubt. I dont have a problem sending a rookie dope dealer to his grave thats one less I have to worry about!! Betcha Cole wouldve changed his habits if he knew he was going to meet his maker so early! Go back to to work Maukfawk I think there is another customer wanting a whopper!
@GW holy moley buddy! You need a drink to calm your ragged nerves? To sit at your computer and act as if you KNOW Tanker and Tre'von is absurd! YOU DISGRACE ME, and any other human being that thinks Cole deserved to be tried for HIS crimes, not those of a totally different person. You can't read that Yant has filled out POSITIVE field test forms on drugs he was not in possesion of? You think he is more honorable then Tanker? You think his BS is more honorable then Tre'Von selling weed? He wears a badge and is suppose to be one of the most honest, most ethical, and most up-standing of citizens.. Your narrow minded blast is absolutely ridiculous. And before you blow your last gasket.. I don't smoke weed, never have.. I don't buy weed, never have.. and I don't wear a badge, never have. I don't condone drug sales, but I am much more against a cop lying to get a warrant, (and he did lie), than I am against a small time POT dealer. I seriously doubt that a judge would have signed a middle of the night, no knock warrant for the amount of sales Cole did, this warrant was signed based on Trevon Cole having a long history of narcotics arrests... oops sloppy is NOT the word for it! Yant is a liar...out and out liar. What deserves the death sentence, unjustly killing a man when the scientific evidence says he never made a move at you. That is called murder, and if I remember correctly.. that is a crime that does deserve the death penalty. I hope you are calling for Yants death senctence as loudly as you are approving Coles.
Sorry Tank I spelled "and" wrong in the last post. Please dont condemn me for a mistake I made.Im just human. Sorry I dont live in your sick,alcoholic,cloudy,PERFECT world!
And by the way Tank, I dont think there would be a judge in town that wouldnt have signed off that warrant. The guy was filmed and was documented selling dope to cops. It wouldnt have mattered if the guy was John-Q citizen, he if sold dope to cops and was documented the way it was, the judge would have signed the search warrant. Yant was very sloppy and failed big time on dotting his I's and crossing his t's but has no bearing on whether the warrant would have been signed. Bottom line is he "was" a drug dealer abd part time plumber, being that he was soooo proficient at flushing toilets!
Tank OMG put down the six pack and get a life. Did you actually post anything when the last 50 or so drug dealers capped their competition over a baggie of weed?? Im sorry but when you do illegal crimes whether its selling dope or robbing banks, you need to say to yourself "is this going to get me hurt, maybe even killed". His actions caused his death, the police actually filmed this POS dealing drugs. Ok maybe he sold them a dime bag which is not much..But hell the guy was selling to everyone so maybe that dime bag along with the other twenty dime bags equaled a pound of dope sold on the street. So yes he deserved the death penalty. I guess just selling just a tiny amount of meth to a kid is ok to you to. I usually dont say anything bad about "any" vet but you disgrace me.
@Ida.Mann. According the testimony of the medical examiner and the homicide detective, Cole didn't make a move toward Yant. The only person who claimed that was Yant, who lied on the search warrant affidavit, who planned and executed the raid poorly at best, and could explain how the forensic evidence didn't match his version of events. I think that I will believe the medical examiner and the homicide detective over Yant. We're angry because an officer killed a man over an amount of marijuana that was not a capital offense. And we're angry that this was his second killing. We're angry that the system that is supposted to protect the rights of all people, including the accused failed miserably.
@Ida.Mann Did you even look at the pictures of that apartment and the size of the bathroom? Did you read the size of Cole? If that bathroom had 6 feet of floor space, I am living at the Taj Mahal over here in Henderson. Your advice to those facing a loaded gun is great, but how fast would Yant have shot when Cole laid out with his arms outstretched and had to knock Yant on his A$$ to do it? Yant says he made a move, the scientific evidence does not support that so were you there watching and know more than the rest of us, including the Coroner?
The problem is Mr. Cole made a move towards a police officer who was pointing a gun at him. How many times does it need to be said if a cop is pointing their weapon at you the only course of right and safe action for you to take; is to drop on your face and spread your arms and legs out and shut your mouth-PERIOD. The reasons Yant was there may be iffy but that will be settled in a Civil rights suit, Mistakes are gonna be made, that's life, people make mistakes, whoever here hasn't ever made a mistake their whole entire life please stand up! You all are mad because the verdict didn't go the way you thought it should, so you get your panties in a wad, because you didn't get your way. WAH!
The epitaph on the gravestone of the United States of America will consist of four syllables, four words, that will sum up the greatest mistake of the past 300 years- "The War on Drugs."
Well said Tanker... it is so hard to explain to people that most of us who are angry, are just as angry at Cole and Ms. Pearce.. the crimes commited were by all parties involved. I think most of us just believe we should be able to hold our law "enforcement" officers to a higher standard. They MUST tell the truth, follow the rule of LAW, and understand that their job is to "Protect and Serve", not open fire in a dark apartment with an unarmed man.