A police officer, who is white, initially faced a felony charge for assaulting and pepper-spraying a woman outside a grocery store in California. Despite the severity of the crime, the officer was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge.
Trevor Kirk, 32, was found guilty on one felony count of deprivation of rights under color of law for the horrific assault on June 24, 2023.
But in a bizarre turn of events, Kirk has now entered a post-trial plea agreement for a lesser misdemeanor charge.
The officer’s conviction for assault in February carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. However, court documents revealed that a lenient plea deal was presented to the officer, allowing him to admit guilt for a lesser charge.
Under the plea agreement, the officer had to change his plea from not guilty to admitting guilt for the reduced charge, which carries a maximum sentence of only one year in prison.
Activists were outraged by the lesser charge and are urging Judge Stephen Wilson to reject the agreement.
A rally was held on Tuesday where activists called for the Justice Department to uphold the jury’s conviction.
Activists urged Judge Wilson to ‘uphold the law’ and slammed Kirk for harming the community he vowed to protect, according to videos shared on X by independent journalist Meghann Cuniff.
‘He has committed a felony by the book,’ another activist said, arguing that Kirk committed bodily harm against the victim, referenced in court documents as JH.
‘What the U.S. Attorney is proposing and has already filed is an unorthodox and, we argue, an illegal document to give him a post-trial plea bargain of a misdemeanor,’ another activist told local radio station KNX News.
The plea agreement was filed on May 1 by the US Attorney’s Office for Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, a newly appointed attorney by the Trump administration.
Essayli and Assistant US Attorney Robert J Keenan signed off on the agreement. A day after, three assistant attorneys who prosecuted the case withdrew as counsel, according to court filings.
Keenan, who wasn’t previously involved in the case, was the only assistant attorney who signed off. A public information officer for the US Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case.
Two sources confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Eli A. Alcaraz, Brian R. Faerstein, and section chief Cassie Palmer resigned from office over the ‘post-trial’ plea agreement.
Tom Yu, an attorney representing Kirk, told DailyMail.com that the misdemeanor plea was offered by the US Attorney’s Office in December and no new circumstances had changed, leading to the current plea agreement.
Caree Harper, an attorney representing the woman who was assaulted in a civil suit, told the LA Times, ‘They’re [US Attorney’s Office] taking creative liberty with the facts and deciding to give a jury of Trevor Kirk’s peers the middle finger and it should not be tolerated.’
Harper added that if Judge Wilson accepts the new plea deal, it could result in further outrage from activist groups.
She said that the misdemeanor plea could allow Kirk to continue working as a law enforcement officer and own a firearm.
‘He definitely should not be able to wear a badge again, anywhere in any state,’ Harper told the outlet.
The case has become a flashpoint of tension in Los Angeles, as civil rights groups continue to call for justice while police officers have come to Kirk’s defense.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Professional Association told the LA Times that the ‘case should never have been prosecuted in the first place.’
In response to the plea agreement, the spokesperson continued, ‘This action sends a powerful message — not just in Trevor’s case, but to law enforcement officers across the state and nation who too often feel abandoned or politically targeted in today’s climate.’
The ongoing controversy has continued since Kirk was indicted in September for assaulting a woman during an arrest.
The body camera footage revealed that another deputy handcuffed a male suspect who pleaded with the officers not to harm the female family member he was with.
Kirk then was seen approaching the victim, JH, attempting to grab her phone before grabbing her arm, hooking his left hand behind her neck, and ‘violently’ throwing her to the ground, according to the indictment.
JH then told Kirk that she was filming him and the footage was, ‘already on YouTube Live.’
‘Kirk then placed his knee on J.H.’s shoulder and when J.H. yelled for Kirk to “stop” and called him an expletive, Kirk cocked his right arm back with a clenched fist and said, “Stop or you’re gonna get punched in the face,”‘ the US District Attorney’s Office said in a press release at the time.
Kirk was then accused of pressing his knee onto her neck while she screamed that she ‘couldn’t breathe.’
He then sprayed her twice in the face with pepper spray, and JH later received medical attention for her injuries.
The US District Attorney’s Office said Kirk also gave a misleading report that he was in a ‘fight.’
At the time, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna called the footage of the arrest ‘disturbing.’
In February, a jury convicted Kirk of using excessive force while acting as a law enforcement officer.
The new plea agreement still has to be accepted by Judge Wilson to take effect. Kirk’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 19.
