By C1 Staff
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A former Los Angeles jail deputy took the stand during the trial of six sheriff’s officials accused of impeding an investigation into allegations of excessive force inside county jails.
According to the LA Times, Gilbert Michel was responsible for smuggling a cellphone in exchange for a bribe in 2011, which lead to the Sheriff’s Department discovering the investigation and attempting to frustrate the inquiry.
Michel described a culture of abuse inside the jails: “beating inmates unprovoked, slapping them, shooting them with a TASER gun and aggressively searching them to pick a fight,” all of which he alleges he learned “on the job.”
He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to a count of bribery and agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
He has not been charged with crimes related to his admitted use of excessive force. None of the defendants on trial (two lieutenants, two sergeants and two deputies) are accused of civil rights violations or excessive force.
Michel also explained that COs would huddle together to “get their stories straight” and write up reports to justify the incidents. If an inmate had no visible injuries, he made no report at all.
He described one incident where an inmate rebuffed his questions during a routine search. As he took the inmate back to his cell, another deputy said he was being disrespected.
“He’s laughing at you,” Michel described the man saying.
He called the inmate back into the hallway, and told him to face the wall and spread his legs. When the inmate didn’t comply, Michel did it for him, kicking the inmate’s legs hard enough to make him buckle. He grabbed the back of the inmate’s neck and shoved his face into the wall, all to provoke a fight and justify a beating.
“Was that something you learned on the job … on the 3000 floor?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lizabeth Rhodes asked.
“Yes,” Michel responded.
They fought and handcuffed the inmate, eventually pepper spraying him.
Michael was interviewed by internal Sheriff’s Department investigators, who told him that smuggling the phone “wasn’t that big of a deal” and that the FBI was blackmailing him.
Sgt. Scott Craig, one of the defendants, told Michel in a recorded interview played for jurors that he was angry.
“We’re all part of this department and we’re all one big happy dysfunctional family, and … they’re going to … manipulate you like you’re a puppet? I don’t think so.”
Another defendant, Lt. Stephen Leavins, also spoke in the recording. “What’s this about? Open your mind up here a little bit.”
“It’s about, they’re trying to bring down the department and find out information,” Michel replied.
“Who are they trying to use to do that?”
“Me, sir.”
Michel is expected to resume his testimony on Wednesday. He resigned from the department, in lieu of being fired.