CHP Officer Won’t Be Tried Despite ‘Overwhelming’ Evidence of Perjury

Welcome once again to Lato's Law. Here's Steve Lato headline from KCRA. Prosecutors say the

evidence against the CHP officer charged with lying under oath is overwhelming. But the case will

not go to trial. A now retired California Highway Patrol officer is charged with lying under oath

about several traffic stops. And this is a story written by Lise Mietri and Josh sent it. Josh

to Steve I don't understand this and I have to agree Josh I don't either. Prosecutors said that

there is video to prove that the officer lied under oath but it is evidence that a jury will not

get to see. Instead the former officer who faced a maximum prison time of roughly 24 years

is allowed to do therapy instead for a couple of years. KCRA 3 investigates takes closer look at why

even though prosecutors say the evidence is overwhelming. A CHP sergeant explained in an

audio recording we are here as part of a criminal interview with the officer and that's

from recording where they read her or her Miranda warning. And he asked having these rights in

mind you wish to talk to us now to which she said no. They then said do you have any questions for

us? And she said I have no idea what's going on so I don't even know what I'm supposed to ask.

So it all started with one person about three years ago who was driving on a Saturday morning,

Memorial Weekend and of course he knows the cops are out. So he wasn't surprised to see an

officer parked ahead under an overpass. However the officer pulled out after him and pulled him over

and she said she clocked me doing 86 miles an hour. I told her I wasn't speeding and he got a

traffic ticket and was the first one he'd ever gotten in his life. And he said he wasn't sure why

but she was singling him out. So there was a $274 fine and of course a point that goes along with

that and his insurance rates might go up so he decided to fight it. So he went to court via Zoom

to fight it. That's when he learned that under oath the officer's description of what happened

was very different. She said as I was traveling southbound I observed a vehicle ahead of my location

when I was traveling about 80 miles an hour. The vehicle was directly in front of my patrol vehicle

in the number two lane. So the guy who got pulled over starts waving because he wants to get the

judge's attention because that's not what happened. She said the vehicle was about 100 feet ahead of

my patrol vehicle and was pulling away as I was 80 miles an hour. I accelerated up to 85 and then

the vehicle was at a steady even pace on that patrol vehicle in a 70 mile per hour zone. At this time

I made a steady pace the vehicle directing in front of the vehicle for about a quarter of a mile

and the man's continuing to wave like he wants to interject and he said to the TV station

that's a lie a total lie. My blood pressure must have been through the roof when she started saying

that I just couldn't believe it. I was shocked. So the 22 year old veteran in the case he didn't figure

this out said she was driving not parked. She also claimed that she paced him for a quarter of a mile

and so the judge asked the officer to provide evidence like a dash camera and she said I don't have

a video today and it's unknown if the camera was working at that time. So the court listened

to both sides and decided to find the man guilty because obviously the police officer is a professional

she does this all day long. So the man who got the ticket tried again and this is the tricky part.

He filed a complaint with a CHP saying that she doesn't deserve to be wearing a uniform

and so it turns out that once in a while these things do work out. I wanted to take this case

because this is the kind of option that we need to go after aggressively says the man from the

county district attorney's office. A CHP investigation found that the man was right and he wasn't

the only driver impacted out of 100 tickets issued by this one officer in 2023. A CHP

internal affairs investigation found inconsistencies is more than 50 inconsistencies. So she says

she was driving. She was parked. That's an inconsistency. So in the most egregious cases they

recommend the DA's office bring criminal charges and so that's apparently what they did here. So it

lands on the supervising deputy district attorney's desk. He's also a former police officer.

He said it's a hard job. It's super underappreciated and when I see something like this it makes my

blood boil. So a grand jury indicted the officer on three felony counts of perjury. Then the DA's

office filed a complaint alleging an additional three counts. The charges were related to issuing

speeding tickets to three people including the man that we talked about at the front who said that

he drove by her when she was parked and she claims she was driving. So the prosecutor says so

basically she was writing traffic tickets for offenses that weren't committed and then writing

notes and providing testimony on things that didn't happen. Investigation into the complaint we

talked about with the guy at the top, the CHP did find dash camera video of the traffic stop and

it was like night and day the prosecutor said just as the man had told the judge the officers parked

in a median and he drove by her and then she merged on the highway she was driving behind the man

for no more than five seconds before pulling him over. There's a bit about pacing him and trying

to keep up with him was all just embellishment or an inconsistency. There's a huge difference

between pacing somebody for a quarter mile and pulling behind them and immediately stopping them.

The prosecutor says so the officers inconsistencies in this case also consequences for her

others and so the prosecutors and we had to dismiss a bunch of DUI cases because we no one

going to witness that could competently testify about the case including at least one where there

was a DUI with injuries and so that is a crying shame despite the impact and the evidence this case

then came to a screeching halt. The defense filed a motion for mental health diversion on the

basis of a PTSD diagnosis says the prosecutor. California's mental health diversion program

allows some people charged with crimes to avoid trial and opt for treatment if they have a qualifying

diagnosis like post traumatic stress disorder and I'm not belittling that at all I'm not okay that's

that's a whole different thing. So the TV station reached out to the woman and her attorney didn't

get a response. However the investigative team obtained public records that show that the officer

argued in court that she had been suffering from severe symptoms of PTSD. So my question is if

she knew that testified to it why didn't she also say I then have a problem doing my job.

So her attorney told a judge that she had retired from the CHP in February of 2024 about four

months after the complaint was filed against her by the man at the top of the story. The defense

attorney said that she was also diagnosed with PTSD in 2024 although her psychiatrist said she

was suffering from even back during the times of the alleged crimes that are alleged here. So her

post traumatic stress disorder was untreated. Her attorney said in addition they said that she did

not purposely lie. She'd have no reason to do so. There was nothing to gain her attorney said

and then he said on three tickets she made mistakes. Well here's the problem. When you're right a ticket

and you're going to go to court and have to support the ticket you do want the ticket to get up

held because if it's not upheld I presume it makes you look like you're not doing your job right.

I mean the idea that she's not gaining anything maybe not financial gain but there's all kinds of

stuff you gain by writing a ticket haven't get upheld by a court. So in December a superior court

judge granted her request for mental health diversion although she described it as a very difficult

decision. She's accused of committing offenses while she's on duty that does concern the court

greatly because she did hold a position of authority and a public trust goes to the court of

a criminal justice system that those who are entrusted to enforce the laws do not abuse their

power. The public have confidence in the system because fundamentally it is still about our

rule of law. So apparently for two more years she'll have to complete conditions of her diversion

which include going to therapy medications of necessary and completing 240 hours of community

service and writing apology letters to her alleged victims and then if she completes the program

her perjury case will be dismissed and so TV station asked that man does it feel like justice

and he said no not at all. If you believe your innocent fight for yourself and so I'll tell you

right now the number of times I've heard people say I got a ticket went to court and I lost what can

I do and I explained to make so well you can appeal but the standard to win on appeals quite high

and if someone said why don't I file completely the police department. My first thought is okay well

go right ahead you're asking the police to investigate themselves but interestingly here they say

that they found inconsistencies more than 50 tickets out of 100 she wrote. Now I can do the math

on 50 out of 100 but both those numbers are interesting because she wrote 100 tickets half of them

were bad. Apparently if you consider an inconsistency in a ticket making it bad. So I suspect and I'm

reading between the lines here I suspect that when this guy filed his complaint somebody said you

know we need to look into that because there may have been rumblings around things are going on

there may have been other people standing up in court and going excuse me that's not what happened

excuse me and I've handled a lot of traffic tickets in my career a lot of them and I can tell you

that I've had people tell me and I believe them that here's what happened and the police officers

know here's what happened and they're diametrically opposed they're they're binary propositions where

it's impossible then to both be true and I know for a fact I had one case where I know for an

absolute fact that the police officer was wrong whether he was lying or not I don't know

nobody was completely wrong but but the judge looks at and goes well you know police officer on one

hand you're lying the other hand and the argument there was in essence what intersection something

happened at and the police officer who deals with traffic all day long is much more in tune with

where different signs are and intersections aren't so on and your guy who's driven through there maybe

once a month periodically you know for a few years wouldn't know that area as well as the police

officer would now would he except the cop is wrong and even though police officers don't gain

anything by winning in court I can assure you that they want to win they don't like it when somebody

says I didn't do what that police officer accused me of doing they're not going to go into court and

go oh no I still stand by my word but that's okay I could be wrong no they they treat like anybody

else when you accuse somebody of lying most people react with quite a bit of pushback and when

you go to court say I wasn't speeding and the cop says I was in a roundabout way you're saying

police officers not telling the truth or it's an inconsistency so it's a crazy story

the one thing I'm curious about and I'm not a mental health professional it's one of the things I'm not

is would PTSD actually lead you as a police officer to write tickets for people for things they

didn't do and then have you fabricate the circumstances of the ticket and then go into court and lie

about it under oath would PTSD do that I'm curious I don't know if that's something PTSD makes you do

then perhaps the police need to start screening for it but I'm I'm curious about that because remember

that if you go to court and you're accused of a heinous crime let's a capital offense and you are

insane in the legal sense it literally means that you didn't know what you're doing and you

didn't know right from wrong is PTSD something that actually causes you to not know what you're doing

or what you're doing is right from wrong I'm just asking the question because I don't know and I'm

not I'm not picking up people with PTSD obviously and in fact I'm glad that we're more aware of it

now than say for instance after World War One when people came home from Europe with shell shock

and it's like oh poor guys got shell shocks just leave them alone turns out there's no it's post

traumatic stress disorder and it's something they should be looking at investigating and treating

so if she's got it absolutely get her treatment but I am curious about the link between that and

writing the tickets about things that didn't happen and the notes about things that didn't happen

and they're going to court under oath and testifying about things that didn't happen that's my

concern so Josh I grew with you I don't get it either I don't get it either but from KCRA

lisemi tree wrote that prosecuting to see the evidence against a CHP officer

charged with lying under oath is overwhelming but the case will not go to trial

questions or comments put them below this talk to you later bye bye thank you for watching late

toes law we're talking away I don't know what to say I'll say it anyway