Jury acquits couple of resisting arrest

By David Rising, Standard-Times staff writer

NEW BEDFORD--A jury yesterday acquitted a city couple of three major charges in a case arising out of a 1996 conflict with police outside a North End Veterans of Foreign Wars hall, but found them both guilty of a misdemeanor.  The five-man, one-woman jury was presented with diametrically opposed evidence from the prosecution and the defense over the three days of trial.

Prosecutor Matthew Burke, Jr. told jurors that allegations that the defendants were victims of racist police officers was a "smoke-screen" to bamboozle them into an acquittal.

Defense Attorney Donald Brisson told the jurors that the allegations were true and that officers lied on the stand to protect themselves from a possible civil rights suit.

After more than four hours of deliberation, the jury found Brian Anacleto, 27 and Shawndre Grace, 25, guilty of disturbing the peace but found them innocent of resisting arrest. Ms. Grace was found innocent of assault and battery on a police officer. Both were fined $25 dollars for disturbing the peace and ordered to pay $35 in victim-witness fees -- considerably less than the year probation and $200 fine requested by the prosecution.
 
"The verdict suggests that (the jurors) did not believe any of the officers' testimony," Mr. Brisson said.   Mr. Brisson said Ms. Grace and Mr. Anacleto had admitted on the stand that they had spoken loudly during the incident, so he understood the guilty finding on disturbing the peace. Both flatly denied resisting arrest or assaulting police.  "Brian and Shawndre said it never happened, the officers said it did happen and the jurors obviously believed Brian and Shawndre," he said.

Mr. Burke said it was a fair trial and the jury put thought into its decision.  "I don't know who they believed," he said. "Obviously they believed some and not others."  

Both defendants said they were relieved the case was over.  "If there was ever a doubt in our mind, we wouldn't have fought it, but even with all the frustration, and the embarrassment, even if it had gone for five years, it was worth it," Brian Anacleto said. "I think it was well worth it to get the truth out there." "And to get the lies ... out there," added Shawndre Grace, who was Mr. Anacleto's fiancee at the time of the incident and is now his wife.

The case dates back to May 11, 1996, but was dropped last year by Judge John A. Markey for "Want of prosecution."  It was reinstated by police, however--a move Mr. Brisson said was an effort to avoid a civil suit because of the racist remarks allegedly made during the arrest.
Although a civil suit has not been filed, Mr. Brisson said the possibility was motivation for why the officers might lie on the stand.

"There is a reason you see Officer (Michael) Jesus, Officer (William) Ramsey and Officer (Antonio) Mendes here today," Mr. Brisson said during his closing statements, pointing to the officers sitting in the courtroom gallery. "They needed a guilty verdict because they are afraid that they are going to be sued." 

Mr. Burke said in his closing statements that Mr. Brisson was trying to confuse the trial by bringing up possible civil rights abuses.  "Don't be blind-sided by the issue of race, it's not the issue in this case," Mr. Burke told the jury.  "They blame Officer Jesus, saying he used all these horrible words. He never brought the complaint back. Who brought the complaint back?" Antonio Mendes....
"Does it make sense that Officer Jesus, who is a veteran of the police department, who, according to testimony, is terrified of civil suits, threw this girl down the stairs in front of many witnesses? I would suggest to you that it doesn't."

But Mr. Brisson was equally as emphatic, saying that Officer Jesus had even falsified a report to try to ensure a conviction and save himself from a civil suit.
"I don't take lightly accusing a police officer of lying, but I'm going to suggest to you ladies and gentlemen that Officer Jesus lied. ... He lied looking right at you. When he gave the explanation of why the police report didn't appear until a year later, he was looking right at you...."
"These men took an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But, ladies and gentlemen, Officer Jesus and Officer Mendes didn't do that."

In testimony heard during the trial, officers said Ms. Grace and Mr. Anacleto were arrested outside the Poirier VFW Post in the North End after yelling, despite being told repeatedly by police to calm down.  They had been thrown out of the hall by a bouncer, witnesses testified, after patrons told their party--two black women, a white woman and two white men--"we don't serve your kind here."

Officers testified that the two resisted arrest and that Ms. Grace head-butted Officer Jesus twice while handcuffed, resulting in the assault and battery on a police officer charge against her.
But defense witnesses had an entirely different story.  Several people testified that Officer Jesus pushed Ms. Grace down a small flight of stairs while she had her arms handcuffed behind her and she fell to her knees. They testified the officer then yanked her to her feet by her hair and in the process, derided her with racial epithets.

Evidence to support the officer's testimony was found in a supplementary report written by Officer Jesus, but when that report was written was a matter of contention during the trial.
The supplement was not given to Ms. Grace's original lawyer, Lorraine Rousseau, nor was it given to Mr. Brisson. Both told Judge Robert Kane the first time they had seen the document was when the trial began Tuesday, despite the fact that the incident occurred two years ago.
Judge Kane ruled that there was "no bad faith" from the district attorney's office in not turning over the document, but that Mr. Brisson could conduct a full cross-examination of Officer Jesus to determine when the report was written.

In that cross-examination, the officer testified that it had been written the day of the incident and had not been printed because of a computer glitch that occurred while he and the primary officer, Officer Mendes, had the reports called up at the same time.  In so testifying, however, Officer Jesus contradicted his earlier testimony that he was not at the station when Officer Mendes typed his report.
 
Judge Kane told jurors that they could use this and other contradictions in Officer Jesus' testimony to render a not-guilty finding.


 

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