A Lancaster sheriff’s deputy from Valencia who was sentenced to four months on a federal misdemeanor charge has filed an appeal of a judge’s ruling, one of his attorneys said Monday.
Judge Stephen V. Wilson agreed last week to reduce the charge for which 32-year-old Trevor James Kirk was convicted based on a Department of Justice complaint filed in September.
Wilson also said he didn’t feel he had the authority to set aside the jury’s conviction based on the new evidence from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, denying a motion filed by Kirk’s attorney, Tom Yu, seeking an acquittal, based on a deal made with the USAO.
Yu said his most recent argument was an appeal of that decision, which he filed June 3.
“So, the next step is for us to then ask the court to allow Trevor to remain out on bond while the appeal is heard,” Yu said, saying that was necessary because otherwise the appeal process would take longer than four months.
On June 2, Wilson ordered Kirk released on bond with the condition the defendant self-surrender by Aug. 28.
In addition to the four-month sentence, Kirk was given one year of supervised probation for his February conviction.
After a three-day trial earlier this year, a jury agreed with the prosecution’s claims at the time: Kirk used excessive force in detaining Jacy Houseton outside a Winco in June 2023 and then gave a “misleading broadcast” that he was in a fight.
He was convicted of the felony charge, but in April, the new head of the Central District for the USAO, Bill Essayli, filed a post-conviction deal arguing the case should never have been charged as a felony because there was information not presented at trial, and other parts of the case were misleading.
These claims were heavily disputed in arguments by the victim’s attorney, and Houseton filed records from the Antelope Valley Medical Center. Opponents of the USAO’s post-trial actions have called it a “racist, sweetheart deal,” emblematic of their concerns with how the Sheriff’s Department is allowed to operate in the AV.
For his part in the post-trial filings, Sheriff Robert Luna submitted a letter to the court blaming Kirk’s incident on his predecessors’ failure to implement federal guidelines, which he said he has been working on since his election last year.
Yu said Monday that Kirk is considered “on leave,” but still considered an employee of the Sheriff’s Department. He said there was no indication the federal charge impacted his Peace Officer Safety Training certification, which is a requirement in California to work as a law enforcement officer.
He also said he has not yet been notified of a hearing date for Kirk’s appeal.
