Two jurors who sat in judgment of Colorado State Patrol Trooper Ivan “Gene” Lawyer said Fourth Amendment principles had either too much emphasis by the prosecution, or little bearing on the main issues at play in the trooper’s trial.
Lawyer was acquitted Thursday on four counts, including criminally negligent homicide and first-degree criminal trespass. Two other counts, including second-degree assault with recklessness, were left undecided by a deadlocked jury.
One juror, David Kearsley, a Grand Junction investment adviser and Republican who challenged Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland in 2008 for the District 3 commission seat, said consideration of Lawyer’s state of mind was paramount in his analysis.
“You have to take into account what he knew or didn’t know at the time, not what we know today,” said Kearsley. “Were the actions of Lawyer reasonable, given what he saw?”
Yes, he concluded.
“You could argue later the Fourth Amendment issues, but jeez .... (Kemp’s) been maced, and he’s still yelling, ‘Go get a warrant,’” Kearsley said.
Kearsley said he agreed with statements made to The Daily Sentinel by Lawyer’s attorney, Eric Fenster, who argued Fourth Amendment considerations were “very ancillary.”
“The only time (Lawyer) went into the house was after (Kemp) was shot,” Kearsley said.
Another juror, a Grand Junction woman who spoke on the condition she not be identified, echoed those views.
“There was too much emphasis on it,” the woman said of the Fourth Amendment discussion. She added, “That might work better in (Cpl. Kirk) Firko’s case because he opened the door.”
Lawyer’s testimony, which was questioned by prosecutors as being inconsistent with earlier accounts by the trooper, was that an otherwise quiet attempt to contact Kemp, who was suspected of drunken driving in a non-injury traffic accident, escalated after he heard a dog yelp and Firko yelling at the front door.
Lawyer testified he ran from the back to the front of the house and saw Kemp “engaged physically” with Firko. Kemp managed to elude Firko and slammed the door shut, Lawyer testified.
“The question then is whether Lawyer had a reasonable belief whether Jason was resisting arrest,” Kearsley said.
