Former police sergeant convicted of rights violation
But jury says Matakovich didn’t lie in report
A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Pittsburgh police sergeant of beating up an intoxicated man at Heinz Field but acquitted him on a charge of lying about it in his report.
Stephen Matakovich, 48, went on trial Monday in U.S. District Court, charged with violating the civil rights of Gabriel Despres, then 19, outside the stadium during high school football playoffs in 2015.
The government accused Mr. Matakovich of shoving and punching Mr. Despres repeatedly without cause and then obstructing justice by filing a false report to justify his actions.
After deliberating for about two hours, the jury sided with the government on the first count but rejected the second.
Mr. Matakovich's lawyer, Tina Miller, declined comment as she left the courtroom with her client and his family.
Robert Swartzwelder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police and a defense witness on use-of-force issues, watched the trial and verdict but also declined comment.
The focus of the case was a video of the incident recorded by cameras at the stadium.
Mr. Matakovich and his lawyers maintained that he was justified in using force because he thought Mr. Despres, who was drunk and refused to leave the property, was about to sucker punch him.
In his closing argument Friday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Gilson said Mr. Matakovich was the aggressor in the incident and then filed a false report to cover up what he'd done because he knew he was in trouble.
He said Mr. Matakovich, who had been on the field watching his favorite team, Aliquippa High, play in a close contest, was irritated at having been called away to deal with Mr. Despres.
“This was an annoyed bully who beat the crap out of a drunk kid,” Mr. Gilson said.
Ms. Miller, a former federal
prosecutor, argued that her client reacted as he did because he picked up subtle signs from Mr. Despres that he was going to attack. She said Mr. Despres rose up on the balls of his feet, clenched his fist, tucked in his chin and stared at Mr. Matakovich, all indications that he was preparing to fight.
Security guards at the scene all testified that they saw no such signs and the prosecution said the video shows none of them. But in testifying in his own defense, Mr. Matakovich said the guards weren’t trained to recognize those signals as he was because of his long career as a police officer and martial arts expert.
“A police officer doesn't have to wait to be attacked,” Ms. Miller told the jury.
She also questioned why the government relied only on the video and testimony from the security guards but never produced Mr. Despres.
In response, Mr. Gilson pointed out to the jury that Mr. Despres' blood-alcohol at the time of his arrest was 0.209 and implied that he was too drunk to remember enough to be a useful witness.
At a preliminary hearing in state court last year, Mr. Despres said he did not remember what happened.
The Matakovich case represents one of the few times that a police officer has been charged with federal civil rights crimes in this district. Since 2014, only three other officers have been charged and convicted in similar cases.
One went to prison for a year and the other two received probation.
Under federal sentencing guidelines Mr. Matakovich faces a potential 30 years in prison but is likely to receive a small fraction of that, perhaps a year.
U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon set sentencing for Sept. 15. Mr. Matakovich remains free on bond until then.