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Video evidence released of 2014 deputy shooting death of Gregory Hill, Jr in Fort Pierce

St. Lucie County Sheriffs investigators video following then-Deputy Christopher Newman's fatal shooting of Gregory Hill on Jan. 14, 2014.

CONTRIBUTED VIDEO BY ST. LUCIE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

FORT PIERCE The family of Gregory Hill Jr., who was fatally shot by a St. Lucie County sheriffs deputy in 2014, walked away Wednesday from a second civil trial with even less than the $4 they were awarded by a different jury four years ago.

After 12 hours of deliberations over two days, a jury of seven women seated at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce returned a verdict exonerating St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara and the deputy who fatally shot Hill inside the garage of his Fort Pierce home on Jan. 14, 2014.

The verdict means no money damages were awarded to Hills relatives, including his three children and mother Viola Bryant, who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit after her sons death.

The lawsuit contended the deputyviolated Hill's Fourth Amendment right to be free from excessive force and that the shooting resulted in his wrongful death in violation of Florida law.

Hill, 30, who worked at a Coca-Cola warehouse, was shot by former Deputy Christopher Newman, as he and another deputy responded to a complaint about loud music at Hills Avenue Q home, across the street from Frances K. Sweet Magnet School.

The seven-day civil trial that began July 19, comes two years after an attorney for Hills family convinced a federal appeals court to throw out a $4 verdict awarded during a civil trial held in 2018.

The $4 verdict, which sparked national headlines and stunned Hills family, was later reduced to 4 cents, court records show.

Specifically, the jury on Wednesday rejected a claim of excessive force against Newman, voting that he did not intentionally commit acts that violated Hills right to be free from the use of excessive or unreasonable force.

Jurors also cleared Mascara of a negligence claim.

Mascara, in a statement issued after the trial, lauded Wednesdays verdict.

We appreciate the jurys time and effort listening to and evaluating the evidence in this case and coming to the only reasonable conclusion that our deputy acted properly in the course and scope of his very difficult job, Mascara said. The loss of life is always a tragedy, but the split-second decision made here was a direct response to the actions taken by Mr. Hill.

Court records show that Newman and Deputy Christopher Lopez arrived at Hills home in the 1500 block of Avenue Q just as students across the street were being let out and heard loud music coming from his garage. They knocked on the garage door and when no one responded, Newman knocked on the front door.

He heard the music get louder and turned to see the garage door opening. Hill stood facing out of the garage with his left hand on the door and his right hand down.

Newman drew his gun, and as the garage door started to go down, fired four times toward Hill, tracking upward.

When a SWAT team arrived soon after and went inside the garage, members confirmed Hill was dead and found a gun in his back pocket.

He had been shot three times: once in the head and twice in the abdomen.

Toxicology reports from Hills autopsy showed his blood-alcohol level was nearly 0.40 percent, almost five times the 0.08 percent legal limit to drive, sheriffs officials said at the time.

Newman was later cleared of any wrongdoing by a St. Lucie County grand jury.

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Attorney John M. Phillips, of Jacksonville, who has represented Hills family since the shooting, called the verdict heartbreaking.

After court, Phillips said Hill had been listening to Drake on his garage stereo and less than a minute after deputies arrived, he was shot three times through his closed garage door by an officer with a history of violative conduct.

An unloaded gun was found in his pocket, Phillips noted, with no evidence it was ever out of his pocket no time, no DNA, no blood, no fingerprints, nothing.

Phillips said a lead homicide investigator for the Sheriffs Office testified his job was to corroborate the officers stories and that he completely deferred to the officers and left evidence behind because of it.

This trial, Phillips said, was about the thick blue line which exists in St. Lucie County Florida.

He noted too, that after five hours of deliberations, jurors sent a note to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon stating we are deadlocked. We are unable to come to a unanimous decision.

Cannon encouraged them to continue deliberating.

The panel at one point asked to check the 9 mm handgun found on Hill to see how it fits in the denim shorts back pocket.

Jurors a few hours later signaled they had reached an agreement.

The gun found on Hill was a key issue cited in 2020 by a panel of three judges seated on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal which ordered a new trial.

The appeals court order noted that during the first trial in 2018, two central disputes involved whether Hill had a gun in his hand when he opened his garage door, and whether it was possible for Hill to place the gun in his back pocket before he was shot.

The appeal order also concluded that U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg had abused her discretion by allowing jurors to hear Hill was on probation at the time of his death.

Civil lawsuit:Family sues2 years after Fort Pierce man killed by St. Lucie County deputy

Federal trial: Jury hearswrongful death case against St. Lucie deputy who fatally shot man in 2014

Grand jury: St. Lucie deputy justified in fatal January 2014 shooting

Mascara, who said, each day law enforcement officers are forced to make difficult life and death decisions, expressed hope that Wednesdays verdict brings an end to this long and difficult case.

Phillips though, vowed to appeal, again.

As lawyers, we are taught to always respect a verdict. We obviously disagree and dont understand how they were deadlocked and then took 11 hours to reject Mr. Hills plea for justice, he said. Weve fought for eight years and arent stopping.

Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers, and is writer and co-host of Uncertain Terms, a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.

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jury finds no excessive force used in 2014 death of Gregory Hill Jr - TCPalm

Commonwealths Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti at Arlington Democrats election watch party in November 2019, when she was elected to office (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 4:50 p.m.) The Arlington police union is pushing back on accusations that officers mishandled the search of a suspect who is now linked to a double murder.

In a rare public rebuke of Arlingtons top prosecutor, the Arlington Coalition of Police this afternoon sent out a press release accusing Commonwealths Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti of ineptitude and deflection of blame.

The barbs stem from a 2020 case against Francis Rose, who is currently in jail in Alexandria after a series of break-ins at an apartment complex there reportedly led to two construction workers, a stepfather and stepson described as innocent bystanders, each being fatally shot in the head.

As ARLnow exclusively reported last week, Rose was released from Arlington County jail this past February after the 2020 case against him fell apart when a judge ruled that evidence was obtained during an unconstitutional search of his bag. With the gun and the drugs allegedly found in Roses bag disallowed as evidence, prosecutors dropped the charges against him, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Rose spent nearly two years in jail awaiting trial before being freed when charges were dropped.

As court records show, our office attempted to proceed on those charges, but during a suppression hearing, a judge ruled that the police had performed an unconstitutional search and, as the law required, suppressed the evidence in the case, Dehghani-Tafti told ARLnow last week. Obviously, we could not prove a case without the evidence, and therefore dismissed it.

My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of the people killed this weekend, she added.

Dehghani-Tafti subsequently said on Twitter, in response to criticism from the Virginia Republican party, that shes not casting blame on anyone for the case falling apart.

The Arlington Coalition of Police, however, suggests that Dehghani-Tafti should be taking more of the blame, accusing her of attempting to throw police officers under the bus for a lost [evidence] suppression hearing.

The full statement from the union is below.

Commonwealth Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Taftis recent statements regarding the suppression hearing for Francis Rose, intentionally worded to cast fault on the officers involved, were based on self-preservation and deflection of blame. Unlike the Commonwealth Attorney, the Arlington Coalition of Police ordered the transcript of the hearing to have a full understanding of what happened before making public comment.

Prior to the hearing, the Assistant Commonwealth Attorney handling the case believed there would be no problem regarding the suppression and believed the officers actions were lawful. At the time of the suppression hearing, Mr. Rose had spent approximately two years in jail awaiting trial. The Commonwealth Attorney opposed giving him bond on multiple occasions. If the Commonwealth Attorney believed the actions of the officers were unlawful, opposing bond and holding Mr. Rose for two years would be unethical.

Following the suppression decision, a competent Commonwealth Attorney would have either appealed the decision if they still believed in the case, or provided training to the police department to make sure similar issues wouldnt arise in the future. Neither option was taken by the Commonwealth Attorney, showing her ineptitude for the position. Instead, Ms. Dehghani-Tafti did nothing regarding the case until it became news and she needed to deflect blame.

Successful prosecutions rely on a collaborative effort between police officers and the Commonwealth Attorneys Office. The CWAs Office must understand each case, and should communicate with all witnesses, including police officers, to properly prepare for trial. The CWAs Office, since Ms. Dehghani-Taftis election, has suffered incredible turnover of experienced attorneys through the initial round of firings and continuing resignations. Those experienced attorneys are being replaced with new, inexperienced staff. Unfortunately for this case, the high turnover rate in the CWA office, combined with the lack of experience in both trials and suppression hearings, made them no match for a veteran defense attorney with decades of real courtroom experience.

The Arlington County Police Department is composed of highly educated officers who work hard each day to take dangerous criminals off the street. ACOP stands behind the actions of the officers that lead to the arrest of Mr. Rose.

Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the Alexandria victims related to this incident. Hopefully we (yes, we collectively) can do better in the future to avoid another tragedy like this one.

Dehghani-Tafti called the statement disappointing and a political attack on our office when I myself did not use the occasion to denigrate police work.

More from Dehghani-Taftis response to ARLnow:

It is shocking for ACOPS to accuse our office of a breach of ethics because we asked for Mr. Rose to be held pending trial. We did so because we believed he posed a danger and because we believed the case was worth litigating; there was nothing unethical about the Commonwealth litigating the case until Mr. Rose won his motion. The motion was ably argued by a prosecutor with nearly a decade of experience, more than five of which have been in this Office, and a record of successfully defending police work in prior cases involving constitutional and evidentiary challenges. It was decided by a well-respected judge with 29 years of experience on the bench. Those are the facts. As professionals, we recognize once the issues are fairly litigated, our feelings dont matter.

The ACOPS surely is aware our office regularly trains the ACPD on constitutional issues (including Fourth Amendment), on testifying, and legislative updates and we have always been available for consultation as a proactive matter and in the moment. We will continue to do so.

A court transcript of the hearing that resulted in evidence being suppressed and the charges being dropped, provided to ARLnow by ACOP, shows an assistant commonwealths attorney arguing that evidence found in Roses bag should be allowed.

Again, I agree that if he had been standing on the side of the road and the police wanted to search his bag, they would have to have probable cause to search him and the bag by extension of his person, the prosecutor argued. But just because the bag is on his person in the car, doesnt change the fact that that is an item that is then subject to the probable cause search for the marijuana based upon the odor of marijuana.

In the end, the judge agreed with the defense that because Rose was wearing that bag, was a passenger in the car and did not himself smell of marijuana, the search of the bag was unconstitutional.

Despite criticism from local Republicans and others about Dehghani-Taftis progressive prosecutorial philosophy, the police association has up until now been silent about its views on her.

COPS hasnt spoken about the CA until now, the organizations president, Randall Mason, said in response to questions from ARLnow. Its our view that we should be working together in our efforts for criminal justice. We havent been on board with all the things that the CA has done. However, attacking the second member of a two party collaboration is both destructive to the relationship and in poor taste.

We are releasing this statement now because the CA intentionally tried to direct blame on the police in this case when there is plenty to blame on her office, Mason added.

Mason declined to discuss other officer concerns about Dehghani-Taftis office, and said the organization respects Arlington County Circuit Court Chief Judge William Newmans ruling based on the arguments and evidence that he had in from of him.

However, he said the police union believes this was a good search that was poorly handled at suppression.

The officers could have been more prepared to testify, Mason said. Historically, CAs would go over a motion to suppress with the officer ahead of time and discuss anticipated issues and testimony. That did not occur in this case.

Rose, meanwhile, remains in jail in Alexandria on burglary charges, but has not yet been charged with the murders as of this afternoon.

At this juncture, all I can say is that the police department continues to actively investigate the matter, Alexandria Commonwealths Attorney Bryan Porter told our sister site, ALXnow.

Rose is also facing an armed burglary charge from a June incident in Alexandria. A warrant was issued for his arrest prior to the murders but police were unable to locate him, NBC 4 previously reported.

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Police, prosecutor trade accusations after suspect in botched case is accused of murder - ARLnow

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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, revealed the Left's double standard on free speech Saturday on "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino."

REP. JIM JORDAN: They don't think that the First Amendment rights apply to you and [me]. Think about what they've said about your free speech rights. The Left today says if you don't agree with them, you're not even allowed to talk and if you try, we're going to call you racist, and we're going to try to cancel you.

ELON MUSK SCARES LIBERALS, TWITTER AS HE PURSUES FREE SPEECH

And now we have the Left giving a wink and a nod to people actually trying to use violence and intimidation tactics against people they disagree with. So that's what frightens me their attack on your First Amendment rights, your Second Amendment rights, your Fourth Amendment due process rights. And now [there's] this almost this double standard that they have when it comes to violence that they see from people [who] agree with their political position.

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The Left does not think the First Amendment applies to the Right: Rep Jim Jordan - Fox News

Technology Companies Accused of Letting Russian Propaganda Spread on Media Platforms

Six months into the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Ukrainian officials stated that U.S. technology giants are less proactive in monitoring Russian propaganda across media platforms. During the beginning of the war, American companies quickly found and censored Kremlin propaganda. Actions taken by technology companies proved successful in curtailing Russian efforts to spread propaganda about the war but also led the country to ban Facebook and Instagram. Ukrainian officials have said that technology companies have begun to ignore requests to remove flagged posts, including Russian propaganda and anti-Ukrainian hate speech. According to a report from a European nonprofit, 70 percent of posts flagged as anti-Ukrainian hate speech on Twitter and YouTube were not censored by the platforms. Additionally, the professional networking site LinkedIn removed less than half of the flagged propaganda posts justifying Russias invasion of Ukraine. This type of criticism is not new as U.S.-based social media platforms have often devoted fewer resources to monitoring posts in non-English speaking regions.

Alibaba Executives Questioned in Relation to Major Data Breach

Alibaba Groups stock fell 6 percent last week after executives of the companys cloud service division, Aliyun, were questioned by Shanghai authorities in relation to the countrys largest known cybersecurity breach. The data breach came to light after a hacker, going by the alias ChinaDan, attempted to sell the database on a criminal forum. Some experts believe that the incident could lead Chinese authorities to tighten cybersecurity restrictions further, even though the country has passed several cybersecurity and privacy laws in the past year. Others have questioned whether Aliyun is responsible for the breach, instead blaming a government developer who left the credentials to the stolen database embedded in an article.

Department of Homeland Security Documents Demonstrate Use of Location Data

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released documents that illustrate how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) harvested location data from hundreds of millions of phones across North America. The records discuss how federal agencies signed contracts surveillance companies Babel Street and Venntel during the Trump administration. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) renewed a $20,000 contract that lasted until September 2021. The location data industry is a multi-billion-dollar dollar market that is largely unregulated in the United States. Location data has previously been sold to the U.S. military to identify Muslim populations and federal agencies have used commercial location data for immigration law enforcement. While DHS officials said that users voluntarily shared their location data, emails show that the data could be used to identify others who did not agree to data sharing. Privacy advocates have urged Congress to pass the Fourth Amendment is Not for Sale Act to curb the sale of location data.

The House Passes $839 Billion Defense Bill Including Major Cyber Provisions

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The House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a bipartisan 329-101 vote. The bill includes major cybersecurity-related amendments to bolster critical U.S. infrastructure against digital attacks. As per recommendations from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, critical infrastructure in the U.S. would have to implement strong digital security standards and share threat intelligence with the government to receive federal support. Infrastructure that is labeled as vital to U.S. society by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will need to meet baseline security standards. Additionally, the bill will create a Cyber Threat Environment Collaboration Program which will be used to encourage data sharing among members of CISA's new Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), which has twenty-one members in the JCDC including Microsoft, Akamai, and Amazon Web Services. The bill would also require CISA to investigate the SolarWinds hack to provide Congress with a retrospective analysis of the breach and policy suggestions for future attacks.

Chinese Threat Actors Accused of Attacking Belgiums Ministry of Defense

The Belgian Foreign Ministry claimed it had detected efforts by four Chinese threat actors, APT 27, APT 30, APT 31, and Gallium, to infiltrate the networks of the Belgian Defense Ministry. The Foreign Ministry said it strongly denounces these malicious cyber activities, which are undertaken in contradiction with the norms of responsible state behavior. Chinese officials denied the accusations, and said that the Belgian authorities had no evidence to back up their claims. It is unclear what networks the threat actors targeted or whether they were able to steal any data. Europe has been a frequent target of Chinese APTs. Earlier this year, researchers detected a campaign against European government agencies, although the European Union has been reticent to blame the Chinese government for many of the hacks.

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Cyber Week in Review: July 22, 2022 - Council on Foreign Relations

Melissa Tyson, David Boyd

A federal appeals court in Texas has sent a case back down to a lower court after deciding that a local sheriffs deputy who allegedly forced a woman to expose her genitals to him while he masturbated isnt entitled to a qualified immunity defense.

On Thursday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that David W. Boyd had likely violated the civil rights of Melissa Tyson during what was supposed to be a welfare check, and therefore he cant claim qualified immunity, as a lower court had previously ruled.

On Sept. 18, 2018, Tysons husband had called the Sheriffs Department of Sabine County, Texas, to request a welfare check on his wife. According to court documents, Tyson was at home alone and distressed while Wade Tyson was out of town.

Boyd called Melissa Tyson that night, introducing himself as a sheriff and telling her he would stop by the next morning. At the time, he told Tyson that he handled welfare checks because he was a preacher, although as the Fifth Circuit ruling notes, Boyds ministerial credentials had actually been revoked eleven years prior because of prohibited sexual conduct. As a minister, Boyd had also been sued by church members for alleged sexual misconduct.

Boyd did indeed go to Tysons house the next day, but rather than address Tysons well-being, Boyd allegedly engaged in disturbing conduct that left her traumatized and afraid.

The appeals court described what allegedly took place in explicit detail:

The next morning, Deputy Boyd showed up alone at Tysons home in a plain car and wearing a shirt identifying himself as a Sheriff. He was not visibly carrying a weapon. Tyson offered a handshake but, instead, Deputy Boyd hugged her. Deputy Boyd asked if there was a place that they could talk. She led him to chairs and a table on the side porch of the house. Before sitting down, Deputy Boyd asked if she had security cameras or neighbors, and he began to search the exterior of the home. Tyson said that she did not have cameras and her neighbors were usually not home. He commented that Tyson must be lonely with [her] husband being gone and living . . . by [herself] the majority of the time at a dead-end road. Tyson said that she wasnt lonely, she was fine. She testified that she thought the officers behavior was strange, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was helping her.

Deputy Boyd stayed for approximately two hours, during which time he made numerous inappropriate sexual statements and commands, which the district court found were neither invited nor consensual. For example, Deputy Boyd told Tyson that he and fellow officers had recently seen her at a restaurant, and he repeated sexual comments that the officers made about her body. For example, he said that the officers talked about what they would like to do to [her] if they could. He also compared the size of Tysons breasts with his wifes breasts. He pressed her to answer invasive questions about her sex life, such as whether she and her husband would consider a threesome and whether her husband would allow someone to watch them having sex. And he asked for nude pictures of her husband.

[. . .]

Tyson alleges that Deputy Boyd then sexually assaulted her on the porch of her home. He commanded her to expose her breasts and her vagina, and spread her labia to expose her clitoris. After a prolonged hesitation, Tyson complied. Deputy Boyd then masturbated to ejaculation in front of her. She closed her eyes and waited for him to finish, at which point he left.

Tyson said that immediately afterwards, she felt distressed and cried.

Boyd continued to contact her, texting her messages such as I saw you today or I havent heard from you, but she didnt respond. She told a friend she was worried about him hurting her.

She began frequently seeing a psychotherapist and a hypnotherapist, her intimacy with her husband significantly decreased, she gained thirty pounds, she started carrying a gun, she put cameras up, and she generally stopped leaving her home, the Fifth Circuit said in the ruling. In short, the incident changed [her] whole life, and she isnt who [she] used to be.'

According to Tyson, she felt forced to submit to Deputy Boyds sexual misconduct because she was isolated and alone, as Deputy Boyd had pointed out; she felt intimidated by his authority; and she was frightened that the sexual harassment would escalate if she did not comply.

In July of 2021, U.S. District Judge Michael Truncale, a Donald Trump appointee, granted Boyds motion for summary judgment, ruling that the facts didnt support Tysons allegation that Boyd violated her civil rights.

Certainty [sic], Deputy Boyds conduct toward Tyson was inappropriate and uninvited, Truncale wrote. But after careful consideration of the case law, Deputy Boyds conduct does not shock the conscience for purposes of the Fourteenth Amendment. As such, Tysons substantive due process claim fails as a matter of law and cannot support her Section 1983 claim.

On Thursday, three judges on the Fifth Circuit reversed that decision in part, sending it back to Truncales court for further analysis.

In an opinion penned by U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, a George H.W. Bush appointee, and joined by U.S. Circuit JudgesGregg Jeffrey Costa and James Earl Graves, Jr., both Barack Obama appointees, the judges didnt overturn Truncales ruling completely. They agreed that Tyson hadnt shown that there had been a seizure such that her Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure had been violated.

They had a different take, however, when it came to Tysons 14th Amendment Due Process rights.

It is beyond dispute that no legitimate state interest can justify an officers use of coercion to compel the subject of a welfare check to expose her most private body parts for his sexual enjoyment, the ruling says. Nor does Deputy Boyd argue that any legitimate state interest could justify his instructions to Tyson to perform nonconsensual sexual acts while he masturbated.

The panel of judges said that Boyds alleged actions did, indeed, shock the conscience, despite Truncales finding otherwise, and therefore werent covered by a claim of qualified immunity.

[T]his is not a case of recklessness, negligence, or overzealous policing, the ruling said. The record supports a premeditated intent to introduce sexual abuse into the welfare check because Deputy Boyd misrepresented to Tyson that he was on duty and searched the exterior of the home for cameras immediately upon arrival.

Deputy Boyds alleged conduct was an outrageous abuse of power thatshocks the conscience and violated Tysons right to bodily integrity, the judges later added.

In a footnote, the judges noted that criminal proceedings against Boyd are ongoing. He was indicted in 2019 on sexual assault, indecent exposure, and official oppression charges, the court said.

We are proud that Justice was served today in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Jason Byrd said in an email. We look forward to trial in the coming months and the opportunity to hold true wrongdoers responsible.

Representatives for Boyd did not immediately respond to Law&Crimes request for comment.

Read the Fifth Circuits ruling, below.

[Image via screengrab/KFDM.]

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Fifth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity Defense to Texas Deputy Who Allegedly Forced a Woman to Expose Herself to Him While He Masturbated - Law &...