Former Aurora police officer not guilty on all counts in pistol whipping case

A former Aurora police officer accused of pistol whipping a man is not guilty of the felonies he was charged with, a jury decided Thursday. 

After about seven hours of deliberation, the jury found John Haubert not guilty of attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault, oppression, felony menacing and first-degree official misconduct.

The charges stemmed from an arrest of Kyle Vinson, who is Black, on July 23, 2021. The three-year Aurora Police Department officer resigned shortly after his arrest. 

Despite body camera video showing Haubert hitting Vinson 12 times with the butt of his gun and drawing blood from wounds that required stiches, jurors sided with the defense's position that the action was necessary to subdue Vinson. 

Haubert attorney Kristen Frost said that her team "has always known that John Haubert was innocent." She praised the jury for coming to a verdict "based on what we always knew." She told The Denver Gazette that she is "thrilled that Haubert and his family can now move on." 

18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said that he was disappointed in the verdict, but respected the jury's decision.

"We have a duty to investigate and prosecute cases we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial," he said in an emailed statement.

In a strange twist which can only be attributed to the fact that there were different juries and that there's been a nearly two-year passage of time, Haubert's partner, former officer Francine Martinez, was found guilty of failing to intervene to stop him during the beating.

That was a misdemeanor crime created by state lawmakers as part of a police reform law passed shortly after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. She was sentenced to six months of house arrest. 

During Haubert's trial, the jury heard from police trainers and from officers who described their training. 

In her closing statement, Frost slowed down the video to show the jury the struggle for Haubert's handgun.

“The only conclusion that you can come to is that Kyle Vinson grabbed for Mr. Haubert’s gun," said Frost, who reminded the jury that Vinson had a warrant for domestic violence strangulation, that he had fentanyl pills in his backpack and that he failed to submit to Haubert's commands.

“Even Vinson had to admit he resisted. He was non-compliant," she said. "He was no victim." 

Vinson is serving prison time on an unrelated charge. 

"We respect the criminal jury process, but it is important for the public to know that whether an officer's conduct is criminal is not the standard for a police officer to keep their job," Kyle Vinson's civil attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, said in a texted statement. "Officers have a duty to protect and serve the public."

No lawsuit was filed in the case, but the City of Aurora paid an $850,000 settlement in the matter, according to Rathod. 

Aurora police issued a statement to The Denver Gazette on the verdict. 

"The Aurora Police Department holds the American judicial system in high regard. We respect the verdict handed down today by the jury," according to the emailed statement. When the incident in question occurred in July 2021, the department launched a thorough administrative investigation into this incident. It was determined that the actions of the officer were not in line with the expectations of the Aurora Police Department. He resigned following the July 2021 incident and is no longer employed with the Aurora Police Department."

The verdicts come on the heels of Aurora police and paramedics' trials, verdicts and sentencings in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain. The 23-year-old was walking home from a convenience store when police stopped him, put him in a choke hold, forced him to the ground and paramedics injected him with a fatal dose of ketamine. A 911 caller had reported someone looking "sketchy."

Paramedic Peter Cichuniec was sentenced to five years in prison last month for injecting the ketamine, which resulted in assault and criminally negligent homicide convictions. 

Fellow paramedic Peter Cooper was found not guilty of two second-degree assault charges, but guilty of criminally negligent homicide. He faces up to six years in prison at his April 26 sentencing. 

Officer Randy Roedema, 41, is serving 14 months in jail and four years of probation after being convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault for his actions in McClain’s death. He started serving the sentence last month. 

Officers Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt were acquitted of all charges.

This story was written with the help of Denver Gazette City Editor Dennis Huspeni and reporter Sage Kelley.