ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Rejecting Steven L. Leftwich's claims that he was pummeled, kicked and choked by a group of policemen, a Roanoke jury convicted him Wednesday of assaulting four officers in an early-morning brawl on the City Market.
The jury set a four-month sentence. Leftwich was allowed to remain free on bond until he is sentenced by Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein.
During the three-day trial, Leftwich and his attorneys turned his appeal of four assault convictions into an attack on the Roanoke Police Department, arguing that officers ganged up on Leftwich for no reason and then charged him with assault as part of a cover-up.
But the jury sided with the police officers, who testified they used only enough force to subdue Leftwich when he attacked them after a routine traffic stop on Campbell Avenue the morning of last Feb. 11.
"There was not a beating in this case, ladies and gentlemen," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner told the jury. "This was a fight, and it was a fight that the defendant started."
"The police don't have to sit there and be abused. They have a right and a duty to apprehend somebody."
Leftwich, 31, continued to maintain his innocence as he left the courthouse.
"But I respect the jury's decision," he said. "They were under tremendous pressure to go against the whole Roanoke city, and it was hard on them. But I respect them and God bless them."
Although the jury did not ratify Leftwich's allegations of police brutality with a self-defense acquittal, its 120-day sentence was less than the two years in jail he received - and then appealed - from a judge in General District Court.
Until this week, eyewitness accounts fit a predictable pattern. Leftwich and his cousin called it a case of excessive force; nearly a dozen police officers involved in the fray said he was the instigator.
But on Tuesday, the jury heard from an independent eyewitness - a taxi driver who happened by the altercation. Owen Hall testified that he saw police officers hitting Leftwich in the head with a flashlight and stomping him when he fell to the sidewalk.
But Hall's credibility may have been damaged in jurors' minds when he admitted that he first told police he did not witness any misconduct.
A second passerby, a homeless man who was intoxicated at the time and showed up for the trial smelling of alcohol, was not called to the witness stand. But several officers testified that the man was so outraged by Leftwich's actions that he demanded they give him a gun so he could shoot him on the spot.
Linda Cupit, a law student who assisted in Leftwich's defense, told the jury that the officers were out looking for someone to beat up.
"This was sport to the officers," she said. "They chose two innocent victims."
Officer A.P. Forbes testified that he stopped a car with a burned-out taillight in the 100 block of Campbell Avenue about 4 a.m. Feb. 11. Leftwich, who had turned the car keys over to his cousin after a night of partying, was asked to step out of the passenger seat when Forbes spotted a plastic bag of marijuana on the console.
State Trooper R.J. Carpentieri, who had stopped to assist Forbes, testified that Leftwich struck him in the chest for no reason after getting out of the car. Leftwich then went "out of control" - swinging, kicking and biting with such intensity that it took nearly 10 police officers and several canisters of pepper spray to get him in handcuffs.
Leftwich was convicted of assaulting Carpentieri, Forbes and city officers D.C. Dean and E.T. Wilson. The officers suffered cuts, bruises and bites, a head injury and a separated shoulder. Leftwich was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises.
In closing arguments to the jury, Gardner said that "it seems these days that it's in vogue to attack the police." There may be some instances of misconduct, she conceded. But to assume that's always the case would be to "dehumanize" people with very difficult jobs.
"These people are not just walking uniforms." she said. "They are living, breathing human beings. They have lives and wives and feelings. They have concerns of their own; they feel fear and they feel pain."
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Steven L. Leftwich: "I respect the jury's decision."by CNBcolor.