Page 6 - Sonoma County gazette September 2018

OPINION: Justice for Andy Lopez?
By Kathleen Finigan
The US Supreme Court has rejected Sonoma County’s last ditch appeal
to keep Sgt. Erick Gelhuas from facing trial. The Iraq war veteran has been charged with the 2013 wrongful shooting death of 13-year-old Andy Lopez as the boy walked down a neighborhood street with a toy rifle. This is the fourth failed appeal, which has thus far cost the County some $4 million in taxpayer dollars.
Perversion of the popular “Coexist” bumper sticker posted o Gelhaus’ Facebook page before it was removed after Andy Lopez’s’s shooting death
In a desperate attempt to save face, Assistant Sheriff Clint Shubel said, “We want to get clarity and guidance from the courts.” But observers say that four court decisions against granting immunity to Gelhaus couldn’t be more clear. The US District Court in Oakland, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, a second denial for a rehearing with the 9th Circuit and now the Supreme Court have all turned down the case.
In Gelhaus’ ghastly version the “O” is the crosshairs of a gunsight and the totenkopf replaces the “X.”
Judge Milan D. Smith of the 9th Circuit, found that “a reasonable jury could find that Gelhaus’ use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable...Andy did not pose an immediate threat to law enforcement officials and therefore the law was clearly established at the time of the shooting that Gelhaus’ conduct was unconstitutional.”
A jury will hear Gelhaus’ testimony that Andy “didn’t turn towards me when I shot him.” He also admitted that he doesn’t know if Andy’s gun was ever pointed at him. In a video deposition, Gelhaus is shown replicating Andy’s stance with the toy gun in his left hand and turning to the point when he fired off eight shots in six seconds at the boy. “It was this,” he said. Andy’s rifle was pointing straight down at the ground: vimeo.com/249042207
When Gelhaus is on the stand, jurors will hear of his many writings for SWAT and other paramiltiary magazines about how police can justify killings. In one, he wrote: “Law enforcement is a contact sport. If you find yourself in the kill zone, you need to turn on your mean gene... Today is the day you may need to kill somebody in order to go home.”
A jury will also hear the testimony of Jeff Westbrook of Santa Rosa who two months before Andy’s death was pulled over by Gelhaus for failing to signal
a lane change. Gelhaus pulled a gun on Westbrook as he walked up to the car and Westbrook felt so troubled by the officer’s demeanor that he asked, “Sir, is there something wrong with you? “ Westbrook later said that “I felt like I was watching somebody I needed to help.” His complaint to Gelhaus’ superior officer was ignored.
He holds in high admiration Jay Cooper, owner of the Gunsite Academy where he works as an instructor, who has written that, “The greatest warrior who ever lived,” was Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel, an SS sniper for Hitler’s Luftwaffe.
Most observers agree that the county’s case is dead in the water and their best bet will be to keep Gelhaus off the witness stand and settle the case without further delay. Perhaps now the Lopez family will at long last see the light of justice in this unspeakable tragedy.
Gelhaus posted a perversion of the popular “Coexist” bumper sticker on his Facebook page with a Nazi totenkopf, a skull pin that Hitler awarded to his concentration camp guards in recognition of prisoners killed.
We encourage readers to PARTICIPATE in Community Life Sonoma County NEWS & Issues • 20 Community Columns • Calendar of Events: 19 Categories of Activities
Support Locally-Owned Businesses using our LOCAL GUIDES
TM
BUILDING COMMUNITY
SMALL SHOPS GARDEN GUIDE FROZEN DESSERTS CHEESE MAKERS ART GALLERIES BICYCLE SHOPS JEWELERS FLOWER SHOPS WATER PLAY for Holiday Gifts
FIND 35,000 copies of our Print Edition at 1000+ Locations County-Wide & ONLINE @
6 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 9/18