Woman Found Not Guilty in Incident with Police
By Raul Hernandez
VenturaCountyStar.com
A Ventura County woman was found not guilty Wednesday of resisting arrest and battery against an Oxnard police officer who used an electric shock devise to shock her after she allegedly slapped another officer in the back of the head.
After a 2 1/2 day trial, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles McGrath said he had reasonable doubts that Vanessa Monique Esquivel, 33, of Oxnard was guilty of the two misdemeanor charges. After the decision, a tearful Esquivel was thankful. "I just want to thank God and my lawyers for letting the truth come out," she said.
Prosecutors put one witness on the stand, Officer Derek Stephens. Three defense witnesses, including Esquivel, testified, said her attorney, Philip Dunn. Prosecutor Blake Heller declined to comment.
During closing arguments, Heller told the judge that officers responded to a loud party at a Oxnard house, where a fight was taking place in the alley at 1:20 a.m. on October 14. Stephens took out his taser when he saw someone being held by the throat inside the house and fired it at David Luna, whom he believed was choking someone, Heller said.
A Taser is an electric stun devise that delivers 50,000 volts. Esquivel got between Luna and Stephens and was stunned after she touched the Taser's wire, Heller said. Esquivel isn't a bad person but made a costly mistake that night, heller said. He said Esquivel slapped Stephens in the back of the head and grabbed his vest.
Outside the courtroom, Dunn said his 120-pound, 5 foot 3 inch tall client doesn't have a criminal record. The defense attorney said Stephens saw Luna breaking up a fight and thought Luna was the aggressor.
Dunn said Esquivel got caught in the middle, was grabbed by Officer Sheylan Flannery and slammed to the floor. Flannery put his knee on her back and shocked her in the back while she tried to pull her dress down to cover herself, Dunn said.
Esquivel denied slapping or grabbing Stephens, and allegation, she said, that was never included in his police report. Flannery testified that he drew his gun in the room during the incident and told people to get back. "That was surprising because that wasn't in his police report," Dunn replied.
Dunn said his client was initially charged with four counts: two counts of battery on a police officer and two counts of resisting arrest. Dunn said Heller dismissed two counts before trial ended.
Luna was arrested for resisting arrest, battery and fighting but later the charges were dropped, said Dunn. No other arrests were made.
