RSSTrooper found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, three other charges
State Patrol trooper Gene Lawyer
Jurors in the trial of trooper Ivan “Gene” Lawyer have declared him not guilty of four of the charges against him and were unable to come to a clear decision on two others this afternoon. He was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, first degree criminal trespass, prohibited use of a weapon and criminal mischief in the death. Jurors were hung on charges of second degree assault and illegal discharge of a firearm.
Lawyer faced the felony charges in the shooting death of 31-year-old Jason Kemp, 31, on July 20, 2010. Kemp was fatally shot in the doorway of his home at 103 Glade Park Road, Unit B. The trooper had repeatedly kicked at Kemp’s front door in what started as a non-injury traffic accident investigation.
Lawyer testified he thought Kemp might have had a weapon and said he saw Kemp’s right arm raise up quickly when the door suddenly flew open.
Kemp was unarmed.
Lawyer and State Patrol Cpl. Kirk Firko were knocking at Kemp’s door after a witness told Lawyer that a male driver, shirtless and wearing plaid shorts, who appeared unsteady and possibly drunk, had crashed his pickup truck. The truck was high-centered on a large berm in the front yard of a home on South Broadway, but the driver was able to free the truck and return it the short distance to 103 Glade Park Road, unit B, and went back inside the home. There was minimal property damage.
Prosecutors argued Lawyer’s and Firko’s repeated kicks on the front door, and eventual entry into the home, represented a violation of Kemp’s Fourth Amendment protections against unlawful, warrantless search and seizure.
Lawyer’s defense, however, said Lawyer was acting with the scope of duties as a law enforcement officer and consistent with his State Patrol training.
Lawyer was charged in October 2010 by Mesa County grand jury with criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and first-degree criminal trespass, plus misdemeanor counts of prohibited use of a weapon and criminal mischief.
Firko is still slated for trial starting July 16.
Read the full story in Friday’s Daily Sentinel.
COMMENTS
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.What a crock. CSP elevated the situation to a ridiculous point. A man is now DEAD and leaves a family over a stupid non-injury accident. CSP had a recent officer involved in “fixing” traffic stops. GJPD kills a man in a hotel room. GJPD tears hell out of homeless sites. Police officer commits suicide after erroneous charges. Sheriff’s dept in an idiotic dispute with Beth “Dog’s wife” Chapman. $$$$thousands to fix up politicians business’ downtown and drainage elsewhere. What a BEAUTIFUL valley we have. Crapola.
Isn’t it comforting to know that we can be shot or killed due to jaywalking. My gosh lets KILL me to preserve the “evidence.” If this is indeed CSP training then I submit we fire all of the SO-s and start over elsewhere.
This community should be outraged at the precedent just set by our Grand Jury and a jury of Lawyers peers. As he was such a nice guy, wasn’t trained properly and thought an elbow cocked at a 90 degree angle was a gun, a jury of this county said “That’s okay. You didn’t mean it.” What is the precedent that has been set? One, if an officer forces entry into your home without a warrant or exigent circumstances, it is okay if he kills you in the process.” As police have no more authority to force entry into your home than any stranger, this jury just said that is okay as well. Kemp’s civil rights including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were taken away from him because one of Colorado’s finest felt it urgent to force entry into a home to get a blood or breath sample for a simple DUI. Mr. Kemp told them to get a warrant so how cooperative do you think he would have been in volunteering a blood or breath sample after the storm troopers just crashed through his front door? This county must demand a higher system of accountability from the officers they employ to uphold the peace. As we apparently didn’t have the stomach for holding Mr. Lawyer accountable under Colorado Law, we must demand an investigation and prosecution under the federal courts who have the stomach for prosecuting law enforcement officers who have wrongfully taken the life of a citizen.