NORTH MIAMI, Fla. – A Florida appeals court has overturned the conviction of a North Miami police officer in the 2016 shooting of an unarmed mental health therapist, saying a judge erred by not allowing testimony about the cop’s training.
In 2019, Jonathan Aledda was convicted of misdemanor culpable negligence in the shooting of Charles Kinsey.
Video showed Kinsey on the ground with his hands up as Aledda, armed with a rifle, threatened to shoot Kinsey’s therapy patient Arnaldo Rios.
Rios, who has autism and was 26 at the time, had escaped from the group home where Kinsey worked as a caretaker. Rios was holding a silver toy truck that Aledda testified he believed to be a gun.
Kinsey tried to calm down his patient, but Aledda ultimately fired three times at Rios. Two shots missed, but one hit Kinsey in the leg.
At the 2019 trial, Aledda testified that witnesses had called to report a man with a gun and that he believed Kinsey was being held hostage. The jury acquitted him of two felony counts of attempted manslaughter but convicted him on the misdemeanor.
Aledda was sentenced to probation and lost his job. The city of North Miami reached a confidential settlement with Rios.
In an opinion filed Wednesday, the 3rd District Court of Appeal wrote:
“We conclude that the trial court erred by not allowing Aledda — charged by the State with culpable negligence for his assessment of and response to a crime scene — to introduce testimony regarding how Aledda was trained to assess and respond in such circumstances.”
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office said it would seek a rehearing before the court of appeals.
“Today’s Appellate decision overturning Jonathon Aledda’s culpable negligence conviction is disappointing to all who believed that this shooting incident was unnecessary and incorrect,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “Since the 1991 Lozano appellate decision, prosecutors have not been permitted to use police policy and training as evidence in criminal trials involving police officers. Today’s opinion says that now, a charged police officer, in defense of a criminal prosecution, can utilize police policy and training as evidence. At this point, we will begin exploring the possibility of obtaining a rehearing before the Third District Court of Appeals.”
Eric Schwartzreich, an attorney for Aledda, said his client is “relieved” and ready to be a police officer again.
“How can he defend himself if he can’t show that what he was doing was what he was trained to do under a perceived hostage situation?” Schwartzreich said.
News of the opinion was upsetting to attorneys representing Kinsey and Rios.
“I disagree with it,” said Napoleon Hilton, Kinsey’s attorney. “I think that the police officers are given more of a benefit of a doubt than the regular citizen, and that’s not on the system of justice that our constitution provides.”
Matthew Dietz, who represents Rios, said: “I understand it, but I’m very disappointed — for myself and for the family.”
Read the appeals court’s full opinion, filed Wednesday: