Former D.M. officer gets 63 months for kicking man in head

A former Des Moines police officer will spend up to 63 months in federal prison for kicking a man in the face and breaking his nose following a 2013 traffic stop.

Colin Boone simply nodded once as U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt read the sentence while the former officer's victim, Orville Hill, watched from the gallery.

"The court agrees with the government that the offense damages the reputation of police officers generally, and specifically the Des Moines Police Department and 'impugns the credibility and work of the hundreds of upstanding officers who serve with the department,' " Pratt said during the sentence.

A jury in March convicted Boone, 39, of kicking Hill as he lay on the ground, restrained by three other police officers after crashing his vehicle on Southeast 14th Street. He was the third Des Moines officer in the past seven years to be prosecuted by the federal government for an excessive force-related incident.

Boone's defense lawyer told Pratt that five years of probation would be a more appropriate sentence for the formerly decorated officer. After losing his job with the police department, Boone moved to South Dakota, where he referees youth sports and works as an EMT at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation.

But sending Boone to prison has an important role in sending a message to other officers and government officials that they will be held accountable for breaking the law, Pratt said. The former officer, who sat in the courtroom in a navy blue suit and tie, was taken into custody immediately after the hearing.

As Boone's attorney pointed out, "this 'case is about less than 15 seconds in a 14-year law enforcement career' and that it 'involved a single strike,' " Pratt wrote in an order he read in court. "Sadly, it is not uncommon in the criminal justice system for a few seconds of poor judgment in an otherwise productive and mostly law-abiding life to carry severe consequences."

"Orville Hill will live with the consequences of the defendant's actions for the rest of his life."

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa Nicholas Klinefeldt said the sentence will serve as a deterrent at a time when communities across the nation are increasingly concerned with curbing misconduct by police officers. His office sought to have Boone sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison.

"This case wasn't just about an act of violence," he said. "It was about a breach of trust. ... This is a serious sentence that we think reflects the seriousness of that breach."

Sgt. Jason Halifax, a spokesman for the Des Moines department, said Police Chief Dana Wingert had no comment on the sentence.

Boone's sentencing comes at a time of increased discussions about police accountability in the wake of citizen deaths in Ferguson, Mo., New York City and Baltimore, among others. But Boone is among a minority of officers who are actually criminally prosecuted after accusations of excessive force, available data show.

For instance, from April of 2009 through 2010 a database maintained by libertarian think tank the Cato Institute tracked reports against nearly 11,000 officers accused of misconduct, including excessive force, fraud and drug arrests. Of those officers, only 1,063 were eventually convicted of a crime, according to an annual report.

Two high-profile cases out of the Des Moines Police Department have given Klinefeldt, the top federal prosecutor for much of southern Iowa, a reputation for taking misconduct cases seriously.

Before Boone, Klinefeldt's office prosecuted former officer Mersed Dautovic and his partner, John Mailander, for their role in beating a man during a 2008 traffic stop.

The arrests of Dautovic, Mailander and Boone are "blemishes" for Iowa's largest city police force, said Bill Moulder, who served as chief from 1984 to 2003.

However, the cases have also shown that officers can often police their own, he said. Boone's kick to Hill was first reported to his supervisors by other officers who witnessed it.

"All the officers take pride in their profession," he said.

Boone kicked Hill on Feb. 19, 2013, after Hill crashed his minivan into a concrete barrier.

Hill testified at trial that he was in the midst of a seizure when Boone delivered the kick. On Monday, he told Pratt that his seizures have been worse and more frequent since the assault.

"I would ask the court to punish Colin Boone to the full extent of the law that he has sworn to uphold," he said.

Hill sat in the front row of the gallery alongside an attorney throughout the hearing.

In February, Hill's attorneys filed a lawsuit against Boone and the city of Des Moines. To date, the city has paid $2,187 to Des Moines law firm Peddicord Wharton for representing Boone in the civil case, according to Des Moines deputy city attorney Carol Moser.

Dave Murillo, a former officer and president of the Des Moines Police Burial and Protective Association, said he's worried that the rising national conversations about policing influenced Boone's sentence.

He has no doubts Boone acted unprofessionally, he said. But the eight years prosecutors sought didn't match the crime, he said.

"Because of the scrutiny and the attack on the police profession right now across the country, there's a rush to judgment I believe on the controversial shootings and use of force incidents that is sometimes overzealous," he said. "That's got the law enforcement profession right now skittish.

"Everybody's got a cellphone camera, everybody wants to cry wolf right now."

Boone was given a Medal of Valor in 2011 with six other officers for his role in pulling a group of teenagers from a burning car.

But there was at least one other complaint of excessive force against him from a resident who sued the city after Boone and another officer broke her arm during a 2009 OWI stop. The city settled the lawsuit.

Boone, who can appeal his conviction and sentence, will serve his time at a federal prison in Yankton, S.D., or the closest facility so that he can be close to his family, Pratt ordered.

The former officer chose not to publicly speak during the hearing, but he wrote to Pratt in advance, the judge wrote in his order.

Boone detailed improvements he's made in his life, even before criminal charges were brought against him. The once-400-pound officer lost 200 pounds and has participated in marathons and triathlons, a decision Pratt called "admirable."

However, those life changes could not erase the evidence that he "willfully" disregarded Hill's civil rights, Pratt said.