Ex-police sergeant to stand trial on all charges in use of force

The federal case against a former Pittsburgh police sergeant accused of using excessive force against a man at Heinz Field and then lying about it in a report will proceed as charged, a judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon rejected Stephen Matakovich’s attempt to have a count of falsifying his report thrown out.

His lawyer, Tina Miller, argued for the dismissal, saying that when Mr. Matakovich wrote the report following the November incident he could not have known he would be subject to an FBI investigation.

For a federal charge to stick, she said, the government would have to prove he knew he would be investigated by the federal government.

“There is absolutely no evidence that that is the case,” she said, arguing that he could not have formed the intent to obstruct the investigation when there wasn’t one yet.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung countered that the federal statute in question applies to any case in which the federal government has jurisdiction under the U.S. Constitution, in this case the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

Judge Bissoon clearly sided with the government from the start, at one point asking Ms. Miller how Mr. Matakovich, a former sergeant with 22 years of experience with

the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, could not have known that the use of excessive force might lead to a Justice Department probe, especially in light of numerous police abuse cases across the U.S.

The judge said the statute in question is intended to be broad and rejected the motion to dismiss.

She also rejected a second motion by Ms. Miller to require the U.S. attorney’s office to specify exactly what the false statements are in Mr. Matakovich’s report, saying the description in the indictment is enough.

In addition, Judge Bissoon set a trial date for November, but it will be pushed back because Ms. Miller is handling another case in Dallas that month.

Mr. Matakovich is accused of assaulting Gabriel Despres of South Park during a WPIAL championship football game.

The officer was initially suspended in December and fired in March.

He is charged with deprivation of civil rights and falsification of a document.

Stadium security camera footage showed him pushing Mr. Despres and then punching him repeatedly.

Mr. Matakovich said at the time that Mr. Despres lunged at him and punched him as he tried to arrest him, but the federal government contends Mr. Despres did neither.