A former San Diego deputy sheriff who has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of an unarmed suspect has been indicted on two federal charges that could put him in prison for life.
A federal grand jury in San Diego on Friday returned a two-count indictment charging Aaron Russell with depriving Nicholas Beals of his right to be protected from excessive use of force by police, according to a statement posted on the Justice Department’s website , and fired a weapon in a related incident.
On Friday, a judge set Russell’s bail at $50,000, with restrictions that include limiting his travel and prohibiting him from possessing firearms, City News Service reported.
Beals, 36, was arrested on May 1, 2020, for allegedly swinging a golf club in front of a park ranger at Old Town State Park and transported to the downtown jail. He managed to escape from a California State Parks officer’s car and fled along Front Street outside the prison.
Russell was on his way to work at the jail when he saw Beals running and fired five shots. Beals was shot at least four times, including one bullet that entered the left side of his back.
No other officers at the scene fired their weapons or drew their weapons, the Justice Department statement said.
Russell resigned just days after the fatal shooting.
The charges carry a potential life sentence based on a federal judge’s application of U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors, the statement said.
The former deputy was initially charged with murder by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, making him the first law enforcement officer charged with murder since California raised standards for when peace officers can use deadly force two years ago. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The law states that such force is only allowed when “necessary,” when life is in imminent danger and non-lethal methods are not available. Previously, lethal force was allowed under “reasonable” circumstances.
According to the district attorney’s office, Russell admitted in his plea agreement that he entered on Jan. 7, 2022, and when he saw Beals fleeing, he “unreasonably believed that I or others were in danger of being killed or suffering serious consequences.” imminent danger of bodily harm”. In jail, the Union-Tribune said.
Russell, who was 23 at the time of the shooting and had been a councilman for 18 months, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to one year in prison and three years probation.
Bils’ mother, Kathleen Bils, told NBC 7 her son was a paranoid schizophrenic and feared law enforcement, which may have been one of the reasons he fled.
The shooting led to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Beals’ family, which was settled in mid-2022 with San Diego County agreeing to pay the Beals family $8.1 million.
