Federal civil jury finds two San Jose cops liable for excessive force in fatal 2016 police shooting

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SAN JOSE — A federal jury has found that two San Jose police officers used excessive force when they fatally shot Anthony Nunez as he experienced a suicidal breakdown in front of his East San Jose home three years ago.

The verdict announced Tuesday by a six-member jury panel also recommended a $2.6 million award to Nunez’s estate, represented by Sandy Sanchez, the aunt who raised Nunez from childhood to when he died at age 18 on July 4, 2016.

“It’s validation,” a tearful Sanchez said outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Jose. “It gives us hope that other families like ours will have their day in court.”

The outcome concluded a two-week trial in which attorneys representing Nunez’s family and the city of San Jose argued over whether a suicidal Nunez had pointed a .38 revolver at police, and threatened officers during a sluggish haze brought on in part by two self-inflicted gunshots to the head that were, miraculously, not fatal.

Jurors opposed the official police account that Nunez twirled the gun then raised it at officers. It was the focal point of the trial, centered on whether a key eyewitness, neighbor Charles Thomas, got a clear look at Nunez standing in front of his Feller Avenue home. Thomas testified that he did not see Nunez holding a gun before veteran officers Michael Santos and Anthony Vizzusi opened fire.

The jury also recommended a $50,000 award to Tony Nunez, Anthony Nunez’s father. Civil-rights attorney Adante Pointer, representing Nunez’s family, said the verdict is a sign that “the political and legal landscape is shifting” on police shootings.

“The community is ready to hold officers accountable,” Pointer said. “It’s a mighty win for justice, but it’s bittersweet, because no jury verdict can bring back their son, their brother, their loved one.”

Chief Deputy City Attorney Ardell Johnson said in court Tuesday that the city was not ready to immediately announce any plans to appeal the jury’s decision, and a follow-up hearing was scheduled for July 11. Until at least then, Judge Lucy Koh will not finalize the verdict or monetary awards.

Assistant City Attorney Nora Frimann added that her office will be assessing its appellate options. Police Chief Eddie Garcia also defended the conduct of the officers, who he noted were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office in 2017.

“I’m disappointed with the jury’s decision. I stood by my officers when it happened and I stand by them today,” Garcia said. “They put their lives on the line for the community that day and followed their training.”

Sgt. Paul Kelly, president of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, echoed that sentiment and and sought to lay some blame on Nunez’s family for having an accessible firearm in the house.

“A jury sympathizing with a grieving family is understandable, but the jurors in this particular case substituted that sympathy for the facts in this case,” Kelly said in a statement.

Johnson argued in his closing remarks Friday that Thomas’ vantage point from across the street was obscured in all instances by curtains or blinds, and that Thomas did not know there was a gun involved, contrary to the officers who had their eyes trained on Nunez’s hands.

Pointer, representing Nunez’s family, hammered on what he characterized as inconsistent and conflicting accounts given by various officers at the scene, which Koh wrote in a pretrial briefing posed enough uncertainty to allow the case to go to trial.

The trial arguments exhibited a stark contrast in tone. Pointer made a multitude of emotional appeals to the jurors, portraying Nunez as a beloved family member suffering a mental-health crisis who should have been treated with more patience, rather than violence. The city’s case, methodically led by Johnson and Yue-Han Chow, portrayed Nunez’s acts as a “suicide by cop” scenario, pointing to troubling conversations with family members and his girlfriend leading up to the day of the shooting.

Johnson asked jurors to narrow their focus on the evidence surrounding the near-simultaneous shooting by Santos and Vizzusi itself, and their similar accounts of seeing Nunez twirl and raise the gun even though they did not have enough time to communicate with each other. Arguments about any failure of crisis intervention and police tactics, and the family’s loss, while resonant, were a “sideshow,” Johnson said.

Sanchez was visibly overwhelmed throughout the trial, often leaving the courtroom during testimony about Nunez’s final moments, or when autopsy and crime-scene images were displayed. She leaned on family and supporters, many from the local social-justice group Silicon Valley De-Bug, who packed the courtroom every day of the trial. She said she continually regained her focus because of the larger implications of the case.

“They need to hear us,” she said. “Every family fighting the same fight that we did for the last three years.”

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