My Jury Duty

During the last three weeks, I have spent 9 1/2 days on jury duty. While it cost me way too much money to perform this civic duty, the experience was unforgettable. For your reading pleasure, links to the four articles in the Seattle Times touching on the case are here, here, here, and here.

The three defendants in the case were three young African-American men: Alexei Selivanoff (18), Freddie Brooks, Jr. (22), and Darius Yearby (20). All of them were in downtown Seattle on Second Ave between Pike and Pine on the evening of October 18, 2010.

Not surprisingly, the SPD conducts buy/bust operations on a regular basis in parts of Seattle known to be frequented by those buying and selling drugs - in this case, crack cocaine. On this occasion, Officer Raul Vaca was the undercover officer doing the buy. His longtime partner as a bicycle cop, Officer Cierley, was also part of the undercover team along with several others. The officer doing the buy is not equipped with a radio in these operations because it would be easy to spot by a potential dealer who would then be scared off. All the other team members do have radio communication. We heard testimony from both of these men, and they were impressive guys: competent, intelligent, not tall but well-built and strong looking. I wouldn't want to mess with either of them.

When the team started their operation, Officer Vaca began talking to a known crack addict who, as someone who has pretty much hit rock bottom as a crack user, is called a "cluck" on the street. Clucks are known often to act as intermediaries in connecting buyers with sellers for the price of a "piece of rock" i.e. a small chunk of crack. This guy led Officer Vaca to Second and Pine and then south on Second toward of group of maybe a dozen people standing near the Noc Noc nightclub. Officer Vaca recognized someone in the group as a person he had dealt with as a uniformed cop and, thinking she might recognize him, he turned around and headed back north telling the cluck he would wait in a nearby parking lot. No one in the group wanted to help the cluck at first, but he finally prevailed upon Alexei Selivanoff to come with him to make the sale. They walked to the parking lot with some number of others following, and approached the officers.

In his testimony, Alexei stated that he was 18 and had been selling crack since he was 14 when an older family member had taught him the basics of the business. At age 16 he was shot in the leg during a crack sale, shattering his tibia and requiring several metal rods to be implanted in his leg. His mother is a crack addict. He is well spoken and speaks matter of factly about these things as if they were normal which, in his world, I'm sure they are.

When they reached the parking lot, Alexei approached Officer Vaca and asked to see the money as is apparently standard on these occasions. Vaca gave him a brief glance at the corner of a 20- dollar bill but, since Alexei did not know him, he asked Vaca to show it more clearly. Officer Vaca refused and asked to see the crack. Alexei said not until he can see the money. In his testimony, Officer Vaca said the crowd started to close in on him and Officer Cierley indicated to both of them that they were about to be robbed. Alexei, in his testimony, said Vaca was acting "weird", not meeting his eyes, and mumbling under his breath. Meanwhile, Cierley was scanning the crowd, looking for weapons.

At this point, the two officers simultaneously decided this deal was going nowhere and Vaca turned to his right to leave. Alexei, fearing that Vaca was pulling out a weapon, hit him hard on the left side of his face knocking him to the ground. Vaca went into a fetal position and waited to be kicked and beaten by the group as they moved in. Officer Cierley pulled his gun, yelled "Seattle police!" and aimed his weapon at Alexei's chest. At that point all hell broke loose. The entire group ran with Cierley in pursuit while other team members came tearing across the street and joined in the chase, at the same time sending out a "Help the Officer" call on their radios.

Help the Officer is the signal for all police within a couple of miles radius to drop whatever they are doing and go to the scene of the incident. Within minutes, the street was full of police sirens and flashing lights.

When Officer Vaca realized he was not about to be beaten, he got up and saw that he was alone with the cluck who was scanning the ground for any crack that might have been dropped in the excitement. He decided to arrest the cluck, attempted to subdue him and eventually did when some other police arrived on the scene. He then took off south on Second to help with any arrests that he could.

Alexei, who describes himself as young and athletic, ran south on Second, veered off into a parking garage where, he says, he ground up the crack (contained in a small bag) and let it come out as he ran. He also dropped the empty bag so, when the police caught up with him, they found no drugs on him. He came out of the garage onto Pike street where he was tackled, and as he said, was "beat up" by the police. Apparently, the police were hitting him to make him show his hands which were pinned under him as a cop was lying on top of him.

Meanwhile, Darius Yearby was being arrested by a team member, Officer Lee, in the middle of Second Avenue. Lee had a hold on Yearby's jacket but couldn't get him under control. A bicycle cop, who was pedaling to the scene as fast as he could due to the Help the Officer call, ran his bike into Yearby and, in the collision, was hit in the face by the back of Yearby's head causing serious injury and making him fear he would lose one of his eyes. He ended up on top of Yearby with his bike on top of him. Officer Lee seemingly thinking things were now under control took off to subdue another suspect in a nearby convenience store.

This suspect was a 17-year-old boy. The security video from the store shows the kid with his hands up being kicked in the groin by Lee (who had his gun drawn), thrown to the ground, kicked in the chest and twice in the head. Another officer arrived, Lee fell over the prone kid, and the other officer had to push Lee's gun away so it wasn't aimed at anyone. Again, Lee decides his work here is done, and goes back outside where he hits Yearby in the face twice with his fist to get him to show his hands which are pinned under him. Then as another officer applies handcuffs, Lee steps on Yearby's neck or head, grinding his face into the street.

Freddie Brooks ran after the police who were chasing Alexei Selivanoff because, according to him, he was trying to get away from whatever was happening since he was on probation and could not afford to get mixed up with any of this. He ran as far as the corner of Second and Pike, saw Alexei being arrested on Pike, and headed north again. A security video shows him sauntering into the Noc Noc with a friend and then coming out again because he did not have ID. They then walk onto the sidewalk where police tackle him, cuff him, and arrest him. The video shows his friend yelling that Freddie hadn't done anything and the police telling him to back off.

So... all three of these guys were charged with attempted robbery and Alexei was also charged with assaulting a police officer. Since there were multiple witnesses and Alexei freely admitted hitting Officer Vaca, and the charge left no room for mitigating factors, in my opinion there was no alternative to finding him guilty of assault. However, the attempted robbery charge I think was entirely bogus. There was really no evidence for it except the officers' feeling that they were about to be robbed. No one demanded money and no one touched either officer with the exception of the blow to the face.

Sadly for me, after all the evidence was presented and the attorneys gave their closing statements, the judge informed me and one other juror that we were alternates and would not participate in the deliberations. I was upset and depressed about that until I was contacted after the verict was reached and found that they decided exactly as I had hoped: guilty on the assault charge and not guilty of attempted robbery.

I couldn't help thinking during and after the trial how sad it is that so many kids are given no chance in life. When I compare these guys' lives so far with my daughters', the contrast is dramatic. Anna and Becky of course deserve all the attention and resources we lavished on them. My point is that ALL children should have those advantages and those opportunities.

As a society, it does us no credit at all that a large fraction of Americans grow up in such squalor.