Following Jordan Miles and his attorney's statements to media, we waited outside the federal courthouse for the officers and their attorneys to face our cameras and questions.

The officers instead slunk out a side entrance of the courthouse by US Marshal escort to a waiting undercover police car ready to drive them away.

A visibly bummed out James Wymard began telling media that  Jordan had refused a $180,000 settlement offer before the first civil trial, touting that the jury's decision on damages is $60,000 less than the offer and in refusing the city's settlement offer puts Jordan on the hook for all city expert witness expenses (one city witness alone has cost the city between 40 and 50 thousand dollars alone in the last 4 years.) And other costs. (Asst. City Solicitor Mike Kennedy confirmed that the city may bill Miles.)

Wymard would then mock Miles initial request for 2 million dollars in damages asserting that this case was about Miles making money instead of justice.

He would convey the disappointment of the officers who still maintain they did nothing wrong while claiming a victory for the city of Pittsburgh at the same time.

Robert Leight, attorney for Rick Ewing would speak next declaring how the city has always supported their heroic officers and rubbing in the fact that the officers would not be paying a dime of the damages as the city's insurance would foot the bill.

Both Wymard and Sleight were puzzled by the jury's verdict but relieved no excessive force was found as that was the charge they were really worries about.

fraternal order of police and officer Saldutte attorney Bryan Campbell would then speak reminding us that these officers did nothing wrong and would do it all over again. We would then have the police continuum of force shoved down our throats again.

Video: D. Carpenter (Joel Sansone for the plaintiffs and Bryan Campbell for the defense briefing media on day 6)

The first day of jury deliberations ended a little after 5 pm this evening with no verdict.

Jurors will return to deliberate on Monday morning.

Jurors did ask 2 questions of Judge Cercone earlier in the after noon pertaining to Therez Miles' testimony  and Jordan miles testimony about talking to officers about where he lived during cross examination from James wymard on Monday morning.

Jurors said a 3rd question may be forthcoming to judge cercone on Monday.

I will be camped out at the courthouse until a verdict comes in

For more on the Jordan Miles case as well as updates follow @nunyaman and @justice4jordan on twitter.
www.justiceforjordanmiles.com 

Photo: D. Carpenter (Miles Attorney, Joel Sansone speaking with WTAE TV Channel 4 reporter, Bob Mayo.)

Following the lunch break and two hours of defense closing arguments, Joel put his arm around Jordan Miles, giving the young man a pep talk, followed by an intense look of mutual admiration and respect. They smiled at each other, shook hands, then took their place at the plaintiff’s table.

Sansone would deliver to jurors a 2-hour-long emotional plea, as well as attacking the defense’s case.

“‘I’ve been arrested. I don’t know why. I’ve been beaten and I don’t know why.’ The words of an 18-year-old boy to his mom on the phone from jail. Those words will forever ring in his mother’s ears,” Sansone began.

“Are you confused by what the defense told you? I am,” Sansone told jurors.

“I’m disappointed in James Wymard for one mistake he made,” Sansone told jurors. “He has no idea what anyone told a grand jury four years ago because no-one does. As Judge Cercone told you, those records are sealed, and no one has access to them,” Sansone continued.

“Each one has mistaken the facts,” Sansone told jurors while pointing at the defense and their lawyers.

“They did do a jump-out on him, you know,” Sansone told the jury. “Then they exacted a little frontier justice on him because he ran.”

Sansone would switch to a brief history lesson and why the Fourth amendment is one of the most important amendments in our bill of rights.

“Let’s review the evidence of the wrongdoing of these men,” Sansone said again, motioning toward the three defendants.

“The most important witness in this trial is Jordan Miles.”

“Homewood is not a denizen of criminals… people live there, shop there, go to church there,” Sansone said.

Photo: D. Carpenter (Sisak attorney James Wymard arriving for court.)
The morning started normally enough. It was the day of closing arguments but no one expected what would transpire between James Wymard, Bryan Campbell, Robert Leight and Joel Sansone over seven hours.

Joel Sansone sat in the empty jury box before the opening of court, quietly reflecting and getting ready to argue for Jordan Miles. He briefly stepped out before court began, to joke with media that they weren’t reporting how good he looks. Mainstream and independent media sat quietly chatting with one another and speculating on how long deliberations would take. At 9:30 a.m., Judge Cercone’s tiny courtroom became Sparta for seven hours as both sides aggressively fought and argued for their clients.

Officer Sisak arrives at court. (Photo: Don Carpenter/Mobile Broadcast News)

The tenth day of the Jordan Miles trial opened up with yet another lengthy sidebar meeting between Judge Cercone and the attorneys for both sides.

Officer Sisak quietly sat in his chair reading his book on bee-keeping, as former Jordan Miles friend Ryan Allen and his court-appointed attorney quietly whispered in each others ears as they sat in the court gallery.

Ryan Allen would finally take the stand at 9:55 a.m. to a barrage of bullying questions from defense attorneys James Wymard and Robert Leight.

“Did Jordan Miles tell you what he had on his person on January 12, 2010?” Wymard would ask.

“I can’t recall.” Allen replied.

In his 40-minute-long testimony, Allen would maintain that he couldn’t recall what Miles had told him, what he told the FBI in their investigation, as well as what he told a grand jury convened in 2010 to investigate the incident between Miles and officers.

Despite being handed copies of his statements, Allen couldn’t recall a single detail aside from acknowledging that he remembered meeting with the FBI.

Jordan Miles resumed giving his testimony during his cross examination that continued over from Thursday. Attorney Jim Wymard, representing officer Sisak, continued to bully Miles on the stand, insinuating multiple story changes from Miles over the years, in different depositions and testimony.

Members of the Pittsburgh media began the morning quietly discussing the Judge’s gag order preventing lawyers from both sides from talking to the press.

Everyone agreed that the aggressive media updates from the first two weeks prompted Judge Cercone to order all parties to stop speaking to media for the duration of the trial.

Wymard would continue to try to slip Jordan up into admitting that he knew the defendants were police all along, while asking the same questions he asked during Thursday’s initial cross examination. Within the first ten minutes of Jordan’s testimony today, Joel Sansone had objected over a dozen times to the line of questions, and several arguments erupted between attorneys and Judge Cercone.

Wymard would once again introduce multiple pictures of an old MySpace profile of Jordan’s where he dubbed himself “Bulky J”, to try to convince jurors that Miles wasn’t as weak as everyone thinks. Wymard even asked Jordan if he was trying to “prove how tough he really was” to the officers back in 2010.

“My pictures have nothing to do with that, sir.” Miles would tell Wymard.

An interesting and irrelevant question from Wymard was posed to Miles, inquiring about what a “gang banger” is, and if Miles was aware of a gang war between the Hilltop Bloods and the Race Street Crips in Homewood.

Wymard would go on further to insinuate that Miles had ducked between the houses (like the officers said) because in previous testimony, Miles said he originally thought the 99 car was proceeding down Tioga Street to do a “Drive By.”

Photo: Miles Family/Justice For Jordan Miles Website

A very emotional day in court as Jordan Miles took the stand to share his story with the jury. Dozens of Jordan’s supporters once again packed the courtroom.

Jordan would spend six-and-a-half hours recounting how undercover officers jumped out at him, leading to a severe beating simply for walking down the street from his mother’s to his grandmother’s home.

Video: Don Carpenter (Bryan Cambell Defends Client's racist testimony)

Arguments, outbursts, defiance towards the plaintiff, and racist testimony today.

Officer Michael Saldutte took the stand and immediately began arguing with Miles attorney Joel Sansone over statements he made to the FBI in 2010, as well as to the OMI.

Sansone tried to warm up by lightly discussing Saldutte’s background in martial arts, Krav Maga, his being an instructor in law enforcement pressure point tactics, and his involvement in powerlifting and submission wrestling competitions. This prompted mass objections by the defense and a side bar, but Judge Cercone let Sansone continue.

Saldutte became enraged and belligerent after a few questions, prompting Judge Cercone to order the officer to answer the questions.

As Sansone’s examination of Saldutte continued, the officer began demanding and ordering Jordan’s attorney to be more specific in his questions, to stop twisting his words, and allow him to elaborate on simple yes or no questions with a bunch of information that was not needed.

Saldutte eventually began complaining to the judge on the stand about the line of questioning and began a heated argument with Sansone from the stand.

A visibly irritated judge then ordered Saldutte for the third time to “just answer the questions.”

Sansone, also heated at this point, began to ask Officer Saldutte about his statements to the FBI. Saldutte would spend the next two hours complaining that the FBI got it all wrong. Sansone then began reading Saldutte his own statements to the FBI, regarding how he enjoyed undercover duty because it was less risky than uniformed duty, and that being on a 99 car detail gives officers the advantage of getting as close as possible to subjects without being detected.

Photo: D. Carpenter

The officers’ version of events and credibility were once again challenged today by attorney Joel Sansone.

Officer Ewing completed his testimony from Thursday in his usual defiant manner, often arguing with Sansone, prompting Judge Cercone to order Ewing to “just answer the questions.”

Sansone asked Ewing if the direction Miles was running away from him, Saldutte, and Sisak, was towards his mother house, before being tackled by Saldutte. Ewing answered, “He started running down the sidewalk in that direction.”

Sansone would next question Ewing about testimony Officer Sisak made earlier last week, in regards to Miles standing up with Ewing wrapped around his back trying to take Miles down. Ewing claimed he didn’t remember that testimony from days ago, and that what Sisak described never happened.

“He was laying down. He had tried to get up, but I was never wrapped around his back,” Ewing testified.

Further evidence from the OMI investigation and report was discussed today, revealing that one OMI investigator had questioned why it took three large officers to subdue Miles.

The OMI report went on further to state that Sisak believed that Miles was in a cocaine-induced delirium, which made him too strong for the officers to initially take down.

“There’s only so many words you can use to make people understand what happened,” Ewing testified when asked why his police report of the incident used so many buzz words.

When asked if he kicked Miles in the head, a heated Ewing stated, “I didn’t kick nobody.”

“But you testified previously, as has officer Sisak, that you knee-striked my client several times in the head as hard as you could,” Attorney Sansone fired back.

“It was a knee strike and yes, I hit him as hard as I could,” Ewing continued.

Another heated day in Miles v. Saldutte, Et al.

Starting the day, the plaintiff called police defendant David Sisak to the stand. A unique aspect of civil lawsuits in federal court is that the plaintiff may call a defendant in the case.

Attorney Robert Giroux hammered Sisak over multiple inconsistencies between the police report filed the night Miles was arrested, the FBI investigation made by Sisak, as well as his statements to OMI (Office of Municipal Investigations….aka Pittsburgh police’s internal affairs department). Much of what Sisak was questioned on today was not brought up at the first trial, and is very new to the public and media.

During the first trial (insert link from Sisak’s testimony last trial) Sisak would look at the jury, smile, wink, and shrug at them when asked questions he didn’t like. Sisak tried the same tactic with this new jury, but with Robert Giroux hammering him on inconsistencies and a phantom Mountain Dew bottle, Sisak was very much on the defensive.

“I thought he had a gun. My only option was to punch him or shoot him… I didn’t want to kill him,” Sisak testified.

Giroux continued to hammer Sisak about the inconsistencies between his statements and previous testimony over the last four years prompting Sisak to hang his head on the witness stand and fire back at Giroux that “you kept putting words into his mouth.”

Giroux had Sisak demonstrate to the jury how Saldutte tackled Miles the first time, as well as how Miles “donkey-kicked Saldutte.”

“Don’t kick him for real, Judge Cercone joked, based on the heated exchanges between the lawyer and the officer. After the demonstration Giroux picked up a pen that fell out of Sisak’s coat. “Guess we know how you lost your handcuffs now,” Giroux remarked.

“Did you see Jordan Miles doing anything wrong when you first saw him?” Giroux asked.

“I didn’t see him doing anything except walking,” Sisak replied.

Jury selection began today in the second Jordan Miles V. Saldutte et al civil suit in federal court.

Out of the 61 potential jurors, only 5 were of African American descent. Three jurors were dismissed immediately, after presenting letters of hardship to Judge David Cercone, lowering the total pool to 58 potential jurors.

Out of the 58 remaining jurors, 33 informed the court that they were familiar with the Jordan Miles case through the TV, Internet, word of mouth, or in print. Despite this being nigh impossible for any resident of Pittsburgh at any point during the last four years, all of the 33 were dismissed.

One out of the five African-American potential jurors had served as a juror in the past in a police misconduct case. He was dismissed.

Attorneys for the defense, Campell, Wymard, and Leight seemed very pleased with themselves forgetting admitted into evidence bullets allegedly found on Monica Wooding’s property days after the altercation between the three officers and Miles.

Judge Cercone opened today’s proceedings with light-hearted humor, referencing popular movies such as My Cousin Vinnie, and informed jurors that the constitution exists to keep government out of our lives, aside from paying our taxes and doing jury duty. Cercone leaned fully back in his chair, as phase 1 and 2 of jury questioning began. Phase 3 of the selection/questioning process was conducted away from the public, inside the judge’s chambers.

Most of the questions to jurors related to their professions, where they lived, if they had an attorney, and what their spouses/children did for a living. Several of the potential jurors were, in fact, lawyers themselves.