Officer shot radio traffic

[TheeBadOne]

http://wmsweb1.viapointe.com/mediaTest/audio/wm/radio_traffic_shooting.wma

Above is a link to the radio traffic.

Jury deadlocks on officer shooting
But brothers suspected of nearly killing sheriff's sergeant are convicted in car-theft spree.

By LARRY WELBORN
The Orange County Register


Two brothers were convicted Wednesday for their involvement in a two-week spree of car burglaries, but the Superior Court jury deadlocked on charges of assault on a police officer in the near-fatal shooting of an Orange County sheriff's sergeant.

One holdout juror was not convinced that brothers Alejandro Valdovinos, 18, and Miguel Valdovinos, 23, of Santa Ana were guilty of shooting Sgt. Kurt Vasentine in the face during a confrontation in Lake Forest on March 23, 2001.

Even though he was bleeding profusely, Vasentine managed to return fire while making a distress call on his police radio.

His words over the next two minutes not only helped save his life, but they led to the capture later that day of the brothers, who had been working as a team burglarizing cars throughout Orange County.

A tape of Vasentine's radio call reveals the officer providing detailed information about his situation while describing the suspects and their getaway car. Some of the 11 shots he fired are heard on the tape.

One struck Alejandro Valdovinos in the leg, and he was arrested that day at a Riverside Hospital. His brother was arrested a short time later in Santa Ana.

Vasentine's professionalism under fire impressed some of the jurors.

"It was like he was trying to be an officer to the very end," juror Katherine Arguijo-Flaiz said. "Even though he was shot in the face, he didn't give up. He was still on duty."

Vasentine survived the near point-blank shot. He was awarded the Sheriff Department's highest honor, the Medal of Valor, and was later promoted to lieutenant.

The brothers were acquitted of several street-gang charges, but they face a prison term of more than 20 years each on the car-burglary convictions.

Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller said he would retry them in the shooting case.

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/o...month=10&day=30
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Chilling

 

[MessedUpMike]

It never ceases to amaze me how idividuals can be found guilty of certain crimes, yet the jury remains deadlocked about the guilt of other crimes directly connected to the one they were just found guilty of. :banghead: :banghead:

 

[fourdeuce82d]

Guy give a description of the BGs, suggests where a peremiter/roadblock should be setup, gives the license plate number of an involved vehicle...and at the end says "yeah you better get somebody over here for me, I think I'm about to lose it."

STUD!!

 

[agricola]

hmm

that smells strongly of a bought man.

 

[Pilgrim]

It never ceases to amaze me how idividuals can be found guilty of certain crimes, yet the jury remains deadlocked about the guilt of other crimes directly connected to the one they were just found guilty of.

Sometimes all it takes is one very convincing juror to sway the rest into voting on something bizarre.

In Kings County, CA, a fellow was accused of stabbing a friend to death with a knife. The deceased had a nice little hole in his heart which caused him to bleed out quite readily.

The accused when arrested was found to have the murder weapon in his pocket. The knife had the deceased's blood on it. Yet the accused was acquitted because the jury had an "expert" on fatal wounds to the heart. The juror convinced the jury the accused couldn't have killed the victim because a wound to the heart gushes blood and the accused had no blood on his clothing.

Even the defense counsel was stunned by this acquittal because he never insinuated the accused was innocent by this reasoning. And if the prosecution had even suspected this was rattling around in the juror's mind, he could have eliminated that thought by having the medical examiner explain the bleeding was all internal.

Pilgrim