Former Salt Lake police officer Lane Heaps probably won't get much sleep this weekend knowing his fate hangs in the balance until Monday morning.
After deliberating almost six hours Friday, a 3rd District Court jury of two men and four women still couldn't decide whether Heaps acted reasonably when he punched Jorge Torres-Vences following a March 14 traffic stop at 900 S. Blair Street (340 East).Jurors will return to court Monday at 9 a.m. and decide whether to convict Heaps of assault, a class A misdemeanor.
The four-day trial concluded Friday morning with closing arguments from both sides, but jurors decided to break for the weekend after failing to agree on a verdict.
The biggest question in the case has revolved around whether Heaps, an 11-year veteran of the Salt Lake Police Department, was justified in punching a handcuffed Torres-Vences after Torres-Vences bicycle kicked him in the knee. Heaps' punch ruptured the orbit of Torres-Vences' left eye.
In his closing arguments, prosecutor Nicholas D'Alesandro called Heaps' actions "street justice."
Torres-Vences was "as vulnerable as a person can be without any means to protect himself, lying there," D'Alesandro said.
During his animated closing arguments, defense attorney Ron Yengich called the prosecution's "street justice" theory an "Alice in Wonderland" story.
"I have been a defense attorney for 25 years," Yengich told jurors. "I have argued for people before. I have never told a fable like that, never.
"A handcuffed person is just as dangerous as someone without," Yengich said. "To say that this is a case about a poor handcuffed man is garbage."
D'Alesandro disagreed, saying Heaps could have avoided the conflict.
"Was Officer Heaps response reasonable?" D'Alesandro said, holding a photo of Torres-Vences' bruised and bloodied face. "I would submit to you that the answer was no, and this was the result."
At least one juror winced when she saw the photo.
"Does the photo speak for itself?" D'Alesandro asked. "Sure it does."
Yengich said the injuries Torres-Vences sustained were no different than those you'd see after a bar fight.
Yengich also challenged Torres-Vences' credibility, claiming he lied several times during his testimony.
Torres-Vences claimed he wasn't drunk that night, but police and eye witnesses testified he appeared intoxicated.
Torres-Vences told jurors he was knocked out and suffered a concussion as a result of the blow to his head, but a paramedic who examined Torres-Vences immediately after the scuffle saw no such signs.
"He was never knocked out," Yengich said. "He may have been dazed but he wasn't knocked out, and if he was dazed it was because of the alcohol.
"Jorge Torres-Vences lied to you, not once but throughout this trial," Yengich said. "You have a right to hold it against him."
D'Alesandro argued that although Torres-Vences was an illegal alien driving without a license that night, he never deserved the blow Heaps delivered to his head.
"Officer Heaps testified to you that he wanted to protect society," D'Alesandro told jurors. "Well society includes people like Mr. Torres-Vences. Don't let Officer Heaps dictate to you what is acceptable -- you determine that."
Obviously that determination hasn't been an easy one.