Hollister - The felony battery trial of former San Benito County Sheriff's Deputy David Hackman is set to begin in Orange County Monday, just five months after San Benito County agreed to pay $21,000 to a Hollister man who claims Hackman was one of two deputies who violated his civil rights.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office charged Hackman with felony battery in April of 2004 after he allegedly fractured the skull of an Anaheim resident by pulling him down a flight of stairs while leaving Angel Stadium after the Boston Red Sox's defeated the Anaheim Angels during a playoff game in October of that year.
Hackman, who pleaded not guilty, will be in court Monday for a jury trial, said Michael Pear, the Orange County deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case.
"We believe the evidence proves (the battery charge) beyond a reasonable doubt," Pear said Friday. "That's why we filed the charge."
Pear is preparing for a five or six day trial, but said he did not know exactly how long the trial would last.
Hackman's attorney Ron Brower did not return phone calls Friday, but previously told the Free Lance that his client was acting in self defense after the man, Daniel Slama, hit him on the head with an inflatable plastic noisemaker.
Monday's trial is Hackman's latest legal woe. In November 2004, 71-year-old Hollister resident Jose Jimenez filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in San Jose against the county, alleging that Hackman and San Benito County Sheriff's Deputy David Zander violated his civil rights.
That lawsuit was settled in September of 2005 when the county agreed to pay Jimenez $21,000 and attorney's fees, according to Jimenez's attorney Bill Marder.
But Hackman's troubles in San Benito County were not the first he'd encountered as a police officer.
While he was an officer with the Riverside Police Department, which he left in May 2000, he was ensnared in a controversy surrounding the highly-publicized shooting of a Riverside woman in 1999. According to a report by CNN.com, Hackman was suspended from duty after making a racist remark at the scene following the shooting of 19-year-old Tyisha Miller. Last August, Hackman retired from the Sheriff's department after five years citing medical reasons. He was allowed to keep a portion of his pension after an internal investigation cleared him and Zander of any malfeasance in the Jimenez incident. Sheriff Curtis Hill said he did not know how much pension Hackman would receive or how his Orange County battery trial might impact that pension.
"We've moved on," Hill said Friday. "I have employees who don't even know who David Hackman is."
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach him at 637-5566, ext. 330.
Brett Rowland Brett Rowland is city editor for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 332 or browland@freelancenews.com
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