Murder Trial Focuses on SJPD Use of Tasers

Posted by Danny Wool on Thursday, February 11, 2010

Back in 2006, Jorge Trujillo was allegedly beaten up in San Jose by two strangers, Daniel Miller, 19, and Edward Sample, 20, wielding baseball bats. He managed to stumble away from the scene, and got over a mile away, bumping into cars along the way according to police. Finally, someone called 911 and reported him to the police. When they arrived, Trujillo refused to speak with them or even let them approach, so the officers did what they were trained to do: they tased him. Trujillo died in hospital the next day.

With the murder trial underway in San Jose, the question being asked is to what degree did the tasing contribute to his death? Would he have died from the beating alone, meaning that Miller and Sample are guilty of murder, or was it the tasing that pushed him over the edge?

Deputy DA Daniel Carr argues that it was the beating alone that killed him. The medical examiner at the time disagrees, but Dr. Christopher Happy now works in Milwaukee, and will not be brought to San Jose to testify.

Miller and Sample were both minors at the time of the attack, but they could still be convicted of murder. According to Justice Jerome Brock, the DA must simply prove that they acted with “conscious disregard of the danger to human life.” Community activists led by Raj Jayadev are not quite so convinced. “The amount of force used by the police against him was excessive and led to his death, and yet they are not charged,” he said.
Read More at KLIV.
Read More at the Mercury News.

Posted by Danny Wool on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 08:11 AM

Comments (16)

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Sweetness Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 10:25 am

Raj needs to be banned!

JJ Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 11:04 am

Wow lots of details missing from this story. Like a Wikimedia story or something. And mentioning Raj just cheapens it further.

johnmichael o'connor Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 11:39 am

Is this the new Sean Webby?

Reader Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 12:00 pm

This article states: “Trujillo refused to speak with them or even let them approach, so the officers did what they were trained to do: they tased him.”

I believe that to be a false statement that shows a rather obvious bias against police.

Can the reporter, Danny Wool, cite a credible source (i.e. someone other than Raj) that would support the claim that officers are “trained” to tase suspects who “refused to speak with them or even let them approach”?

Eric Johnson Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 10:53 am

This statement was not intended to cast any judgement on the officers or their training. The use of tasers is among the protocols SJPD officers are trained to employ when confronting uncooperative crime suspects. Sorry if that was unclear.

Reader Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 12:29 pm

Intended or not, it still clearly a false statement.

Greg Howe Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 12:33 pm

Gosh, who among us misses Raj, our local version of Al Sharpton?

Raj - Has lost ALL crediability in SJ - Time to l Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 1:12 pm

Raj with constant whining that police are always wrong regardless of circumstances or facts, biased comments and never helping San Jose’s community work together to solve community problems is an embarrassment

Raj has joined NAACP’s Moore and Euro American Dale Warner activist widely recognized talking for himself or few angry unreasonable people having no credibility even among San Jose’s many well meaning community activists so it is time that they leave San Jose

Kathleen Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 2:04 pm

I find it odd that Raj seems more concerned about what the Police did as opposed to the two who beat this person senseless with bats non the less. I honestly just don’t get this. If they hadn’t beaten the guy in the first place this just wouldn’t be an issue and this poor man would still be alive.

Are these two criminals even in jail or being tried for beatening this guy up with baseball bats? And no, I won’t rely on the Merc to provide me with unbias facts on the case.

Kathleen Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 4:06 pm

I just looked into this story and found out these two are on trial. My hope is that if found guilty of the crime of beating this man to death, that they will be convicted and sentenced to life.

How sad is it that people like this are beating, killing, shooting, and stabbing innocent people/children because they mistake them for gang members, or kill them with stray bullets? What is the world coming to?

downtownster Thu, Feb 11, 2010 - 7:18 pm

What role did the police tasing the victim play in his death? Anyone?

Jason Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 1:30 am

Who cares what Raj has to say about this.

blues Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 2:54 am

Actually, the homeowner told the police he believed that Trujillo had a concealed weapon.

90 minutes after the fight, the man was weilding a garden hoe and refused to put it down or talk to police after trying to break into cars.

He was tazed 21 times as well as hit with batons.

Yet his death is blamed on the fight?? The San Jose cops are responsible for other tazer deaths as well.

There are currently 2 in jail facing murder, a third was given 3 years (the same amount the two awaiting trial for murder have already been sitting in jail) in a plea deal.

Something is very wrong when the judge prohibits the number of tazer hits from being mentioned at trial.

blues Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 3:09 am

The official ‘record’ says it was actually 4 supposedly present @ the time of attack. 3 of which were supposedly involved in the attack. - 1 of the 4 ended up fingering the other 3.. & UNLIKE the 3 that are now accused - He was not a juvenile, he did have a prior criminal record, he lived in neighborhood where the attack happened, & conveniently he didn’t have to face any charges at all in return for his cooperation in turning in the other 3. Huh?! But none of this will be known to very many.
The ‘2 (alleged) attackers’ on trial now were NOT affiliated or in ANY way involved in gang activity. They were just your basic skater punk teens.. From a totally different neighborhood (that has relatively no gang activity).
So there’s no motivation for attack based on this reasoning. They wouldn’t even have cared if he was or wasn’t a ‘scrap’.
The attack happened in January 2006. They didn’t identify the alleged attackers until Dec. 2006 - After the adult male involved (that I mentioned earlier) fingered them.
The SJPD lost the civil suite already that the victims family filed. The outcome (if they get the cash) is still pending however.. Until this trial is determined. Hmmmmm….
There are literally dozens & dozens of oddities involved beyond this. Procedure thats questionable. Officials in all areas involved that common sense can tell harbor some bias or motivation involved in their decisions. Etc.
Last thing I’ll say is that these boys have been incarcerated now for 3 years!! Pending their ‘speedy trial’

Frank Fri, Feb 12, 2010 - 9:12 pm

Great editorial in support of SJPD by former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_14393136

Not Important Mon, Mar 08, 2010 - 4:01 pm

I grew up with Daniel Miller since we were 2 years old. He wouldnt have done anything unless it was self defense. Let Daniel go and charge the police with the murders for once! If we don’t they are going to keep using excessive force!