SAN BERNARDINO >> With trial set to begin Feb. 21 for three San Bernardino County sheriffs deputies accused of assaulting a man following a chase through the High Desert, their alleged victim has refused to testify against them. <\/p>\n
Francis Pusok, 32, of Hesperia, appeared on Wednesday before Judge Dwight W. Moore in San Bernardino Superior Court, taking the witness stand with his attorney, Jim Terrell. Pusok pleaded the Fifth Amendment, a Constitutional law allowing witnesses to refuse to testify in court if the information they provide could be self-incriminating. <\/p>\n
Moore asked Pusok if it was his intention to answer no questions at trial regarding the beating incident that occurred on April 9, 2015 in Hesperia, to which Pusok replied, Yes. <\/p>\n
He has nothing to gain from testifying at that trial, nothing at all, Terrell said after Wednesdays hearing. He said anything Pusok would testify to at the trial of deputies Nicholas Downey, Michael Phelps and Charles Foster could be used against him at his own trial. <\/p>\n
Pusok, a convicted felon with a long history of criminal offenses, has been charged with 11 felonies and three misdemeanors in connection with the 3-hour pursuit through Apple Valley and Hesperia that culminated with the deputies repeatedly punching and kicking him. The incident was captured on video by an NBC news crew hovering overhead in a helicopter. <\/p>\n
Prosecutor Robert Bulloch said following Wednesdays hearing that he wasnt surprised by Pusok exercising his Constitutional right not to testify. <\/p>\n
Its not a situation that has been unanticipated. He didnt testify at the preliminary hearing, and it was the same issue at that point in time, Bulloch said. Well just have to build our case. The video speaks for itself. <\/p>\n
In September 2015, the District Attorneys Office charged each of the three deputies with one felony count of assault by a public officer. They face a maximum sentence of 16 months in prison if convicted. <\/p>\n
All three deputies have pleaded not guilty. <\/p>\n
In other case developments Wednesday, Bulloch and defense attorneys battled it out over whether to allow information about Pusoks criminal history and incidents of resisting arrest to be disclosed to the jury. <\/p>\n
Bulloch argued that the information, if allowed in as evidence, would be prejudicial to a jury, while defense attorneys argued that such information would help the jury understand why the deputies acted so aggressively when detaining Pusok. <\/p>\n
I think the confines of what this case is about should narrow the parameters of whats relevant for purposes of this trial, Bulloch said. Otherwise, without any limitations, without any understanding of what exactly theyre seeking to put in here, we have 43 witnesses of (Pusoks) prior misconduct. <\/p>\n
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Downeys attorney, Michael Schwartz, said the evidence would show the jury the kind of person Pusok is that he had a propensity to resist arrest which is exactly what happened on April 9, 2015. <\/p>\n
You have situations where an alleged victim is acting consistent with how they acted in the past, and the jury should realize... it wasnt in a vacuum. This is who he is, Schwartz said. <\/p>\n
Moore called the situation a can of worms. He said the question was not what transgressions Pusok committed in the past, but what knowledge deputies had about Pusoks past. He said he would allow in only evidence that showed the defendants knowledge of Pusoks criminal history and incidents of resisting arrest. <\/p>\n
Jury selection begins on Feb. 21. <\/p>\n
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