Ventura County Deputy Used Excessive Force, Jurors Find

A rookie deputy with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was held liable for battery, negligence and civil rights violations Wednesday after a federal court jury found she used excessive force when she shot a man as he tried to disarm his intoxicated son at a wedding reception.

After five days of deliberations, the jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles returned a unanimous verdict against Deputy Tonya Herbst.

Specifically, the panel concluded that Herbst, 31, violated the civil rights of retired Fillmore police officer Anthony Morales, 54, when she shot him in May 2000 as Morales wrestled a gun away from his son, Chad.

The trial will now move to a second phase, set to begin Sept. 9, in which the same jurors will decide the amount of damages to be awarded to the elder Morales, who was hospitalized after the bullet narrowly missed his heart and spine.

Morales worked as a private investigator and a long-haul trucker after leaving the Fillmore Police Department, where he had served about 10 years. He is seeking unspecified damages.

“The jury came back and found that Mr. Morales’ civil rights were violated, it found that Herbst committed a battery against Morales and that she was negligent in her actions,� said Marina Del Rey attorney Peter Williamson, who represents Morales. “Essentially, the plaintiff won on all counts.�

Williamson declined to comment on the verdict while the damages phase is pending.

Oxnard attorney Alan Wisotsky, who represents Herbst and the Sheriff’s Department, said he was disappointed with the verdict. He worries it will have a chilling effect on officers who may avoid confrontations for fear of liability.

“In this case they spent six days analyzing and micro-analyzing the conduct and actions of this deputy that she was required to analyze in the blink of an eye,� he said. “And that is what is so troubling to me. This is living proof of what Monday morning quarterbacking allows.�

The trial began earlier this month in federal court. During opening statements, Williamson told jurors that Herbst ignored instructions from a training officer and recklessly fired her weapon even though Morales, he said, had defused the situation and disarmed his son.

Williamson described his client as a hero needlessly injured by a deputy who used excessive force. But Wisotsky told jurors that Morales had not disarmed his son and had moved into the path of the bullet during a struggle for control of the weapon.

Wisotsky said Herbst justifiably believed her life and the safety of others were in danger when from 10 feet away she saw Chad Morales raising the gun. Herbst’s actions were deemed justified by the Ventura County district attorney.

The shooting occurred May 20, 2000, outside the Fillmore-Piru Veterans Memorial Building, where a wedding reception was being held for Anthony Morales’ nephew. During the reception, Chad Morales, then 26, was asked to leave by private security guards after he had too much alcohol.

Chad Morales went home, changed from a tuxedo into his Army dress jacket and returned to the hall carrying a semiautomatic handgun, jurors were told. As four deputies arrived, Anthony Morales confronted his son at the hall’s rear service entrance. The two struggled and the gun went off, hitting a parked truck. About a minute later Herbst fired her weapon and hit the elder Morales in the back.