ER - Sean Marsh not guilty on all counts, jury decides Tuesday

Sean Marsh not guilty on all counts, jury decides Tuesday
by Kara D. Machado, 2/7/2007

Sean Marsh hugged his wife Allison Marsh outside of Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna’s courtroom Tuesday after a jury returned with not guilty verdicts on two counts and a lesser included charge — alleging Sean Marsh endangered the life of his 2-year-old son on March 31.

The not guilty verdicts were reached in a little less than half an hour of jury deliberation Tuesday.

After Tuesday’s court proceedings, Marsh said, “I’m happy that it’s over.”

Sean Marsh, 39, faced a maximum of two years in the Humboldt County Correctional Facility had he been convicted of the two counts the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office charged him with, Deputy DA Jose Mendez has said: misdemeanor child endangerment likely to produce great bodily harm or death and the resisting/obstructing/delaying of Ferndale Police Chief Lonnie Lawson in the performance of his duties.

The case stemmed from an incident that occurred near the intersection of Main and Brown streets in Ferndale at about 3:30 p.m. on March 31, 2006, after Marsh and his son went outside Abraxas Shoes and Leather, located on Main Street, while Marsh’s wife shopped for shoes inside.

Lawson maintained Marsh was negligent in allegedly allowing his toddler to go 18 inches into the intersection at Main and Brown streets and alleged that Marsh delayed his investigation into the incident when Marsh allegedly failed to comply with Lawson’s orders.

Marsh maintained his child only got to the curb of the intersection, that he did stop for Lawson and that he was open to Lawson’s questions until Lawson allegedly became “confrontational” with him.

In her closing argument Tuesday, Humboldt County Public Defender Angela Fitzsimons, Marsh’s attorney, described the case against Marsh as not one of child endangerment nor one of delaying an officer in the performance of his duties.

Rather, Fitzsimons said, the case went to trial because Lawson thought Marsh “flunked the attitude test” because Lawson thought Marsh “brushed him off” when he attempted to make contact with him.

Fitzsimons — who described Marsh as a “loving, devoted dad” — told jurors there were several people who saw Marsh with his son on the sidewalk late afternoon March 31 and testimony revealed that Marsh was “diligently” watching his son.

Marsh “was not only watching his son, but interacting with him,” Fitzsimons said, “(and) exploring the world with him.”

Fitzsimons told jurors the child ran off at one point and, as Marsh was getting off of one knee — after looking at a store window display with his son — the child was, at most, 15 feet away from him.

However, Fitzsimons told jurors, “testimony shows the little boy stopped at the curb”; that Marsh had called out, “careful,” to his son as his son ran off; and that Marsh had scooped up his son by the time Lawson had gotten out of his patrol unit at the intersection.

And, Fitzsimons told jurors that it was not against the law when Marsh first walked away from Lawson and it was “good enough under the law” to verbally tell Lawson who he is rather than comply with Lawson’s demands for tangible identification.

During Mendez’s closing argument, he told jurors that Lawson stopped at the intersection of Main and Brown streets on March 31 because Lawson believed the Marsh toddler to be in danger.

Mendez told jurors if Lawson had not stopped and the child would have been seriously injured or killed, the case would have been an entirely different matter.

“What is a police officer supposed to do?” Mendez asked jurors more than once. “What would you do?

“What would a reasonable person do under these circumstances?”

With regard to the delaying an officer charge, Mendez told jurors Marsh was “rather dismissive” throughout the whole incident and that Lawson said he had to walk about 85 feet and put his hand on Marsh to get Marsh to stop for him.

After court proceedings Tuesday, Fitzsimons declined to comment on the verdict.

Mendez said he respects the jurors’ verdicts in the case.

“While we obviously wish the decision was otherwise, we respect their judgment in this matter,” Mendez said. “They sat through (the trial), heard testimony, went over the jury instructions and took time to evaluate (the case) and we’re confident the system worked.”

Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.

RELATED:
Ferndale Enterprise Sean Marsh NOT GUILTY - A cartoon, an editorial, an article and letters to the editor
ACQUITTED ER - Sean Marsh not guilty on all counts, jury decides Tuesday
Ferndale Enterprise - DA explains Marsh "child endangerment" prosecution
ER - Sean Marsh testifies on his own behalf in child endangerment trial
ER - Marsh denies letting 2-year-old toddler walk unattended in road
Word to the Wise:
Don't Cop an Attitude in Ferndale