Fairfax County Police Watch: Officer violated cuffed man's rights with stun gun

Millvale Police Officer Nicole Murphy could face prison time

PITTSBURGH —A federal court jury convicted a police officer of violating a man's civil rights by using a stun gun on him three times while he was handcuffed.

Video that shows a police officer using a stun gun on a handcuffed man is being investigated by the Pittsburgh FBI office and the Allegheny County district attorney.

Wednesday's felony conviction of suspended Millvale Officer Nicole Murphy effectively means she'll never work as a police officer again, barring a successful appeal. It also means she'll likely face up to three years in prison when she's sentenced March 13, according to defense attorney Robert Stewart.

"Law enforcement officers are sworn to uphold and obey the law," U.S. Attorney David Hickton said after the verdict, "Nicole Murphy did neither when she used a dangerous weapon to subdue a handcuffed defendant, thereby violating his civil rights."

Murphy acknowledged using the device on Thomas Jason James Smith after his arrest for public drunkenness in September 2012.

But Stewart argued the 30-year-old Murphy was justified because she was trying to stop Smith from banging his head on a desk and office cubicle. Murphy had said in official police reports, however, that Smith was combative and spat on her partner, which that officer has denied.

"I think the mere fact that she used a Taser on someone in handcuffs was enough for that jury," Stewart said. A defense expert on the police use of force had testified that Murphy was justified in using the stun gun to control the situation, even though Smith was in handcuffs.

Stewart called Murphy's partner, former officer Casey Bonincontro, a "liar" and said Bonincontro "sat there like a bump on a log" laughing and doing nothing to intervene as Smith sat handcuffed on the floor of the police station, spouting gibberish and banging his head.

Bonincontro testified that Smith hadn't spat on, attacked or otherwise threatened him, though Murphy used that as justification for stunning Smith. Stewart contends other witnesses showed Bonincontro got several details wrong.

"I don't know what they felt was so compelling," Stewart said of the jury, "especially the primary witness."

Bonincontro became the key witness because he recorded 52 seconds of the encounter, including Murphy zapping Smith a final time with the Taser. Although she expressed concern about Smith banging his head, Murphy also called him a "retard" before stunning him.

Bonincontro shared the video with his chief and another officer who had a beef with Murphy, who had sided against the other officer in a disciplinary matter. That officer leaked the video to Pittsburgh-area media outlets in early 2013, prompting the FBI investigation that led to Murphy being indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2014.

The charge she faced, deprivation of rights under color of law, carries a maximum 10-year sentence. Stewart said federal sentencing guidelines, which take into account the crime as well as Murphy's lack of a criminal record, suggest she'll face two to three years in prison.

Murphy remained free on bond after her conviction. She wiped her eyes as she left the courtroom, but didn't comment and avoided reporters by exiting through a rear courthouse door, as did several jurors. Other jurors, including the foreman, declined comment.

"I don't know what the jury hung their hat on," Stewart said, adding, "We're just extremely disappointed."

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.