[Click here to read official news coverage on this event by the LA Times]
Last Friday, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Deputy Kevin Honea, was acquitted by a Los Angeles jury in criminal court, proving his innocence nearly three years after he was unjustly accused of lying on the stand during a preliminary hearing. The testimony in question had clearly been a mistake – not a lie – and on Friday, after approximately four hours of deliberation, the jury agreed.
Honea was on patrol in May of 2019 when he located and stopped a car with a connection to a felony robbery investigation. This traffic stop led to Honea and several of his partners locating and seizing hundreds of items of stolen property, including a loaded firearm that came from the vehicle’s trunk.
A month later, at the preliminary hearing for the men he arrested that night, Honea testified about his involvement in the stop, search, and recovery of the stolen property. Due to what had been a chaotic scene and the sheer quantity of stolen property he and his colleagues recovered, Honea mistakenly believed and testified that the stolen firearm came from a box in the front passenger seat, when it had actually come from a pillowcase in the trunk. Later that year, a public defender representing one of the defendants noticed the discrepancy when watching surveillance video of the car stop, and reported the matter to Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. In May of 2021, nearly two years after Honea’s mistaken testimony, the District Attorney’s Office filed a felony complaint alleging a single count of perjury.
Evidence at Honea’s trial made it clear that he never tried to lie, deceive or perjure, he just got mixed up, in no small part due to the confusing questions posed to him during the preliminary hearing. The public defender, whose allegations was what spawned this fiasco, testified against Deputy Honea at the jury trial and noted she was not happy to be up on the stand because she recognized that, “people make mistakes.” Fortunately for Deputy Honea, mistakes are not perjury.
“I am ecstatic for Kevin Honea and his family. The jury got this one right and gave a good cop his life back,” said Honea’s attorney, Steven Alvarado.
Kevin Honea stated, "My family and I would like to thank RLS and attorneys William Hadden and Steven Alvarado. Both lawyers provided excellent representation during both the administrative process as well as the long, arduous legal battle. Steven's knowledge and skill were apparent during trial, which ultimately led to a not guilty verdict. Both my family and I owe a great deal of gratitude to the RLS firm, its attorneys, and ALADS. From the onset of the case ALADS was always responsive and never hesitated or questioned using their power to bring forth the best legal representation possible.”
Congratulations Steven!
Steven A. Alvarado is a trial attorney in the RLS Legal Defense Practice Group. He represents peace officers in criminal investigations and prosecutions, administrative investigations, disciplinary appeals, and also responds to critical incidents.
Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver has assembled an elite group of trial attorneys, litigators, experts and investigators to defend peace officers in criminal and administrative cases.
