FULLERTON, Calif. (KTLA) — A judge on Friday set a trial date for two Fullerton police officers accused in the beating death of homeless man Kelly Thomas.
The judge denied a motion to drop the charges against former Officer Manuel Ramos and former Cpl. Jay Cicinelli and set a trial date of June 28.
Last September, Ramos was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.
Cicinelli was charged with involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force.
In September, a grand jury also indicted a third officer, Joseph Wolfe, on charges of involuntary manslaughter and excessive use of force.
The judge has set a date of March 29 for a hearing on a motion by Wolfe to drop all charges.
All three men have pleaded not guilty. They all resigned from the department following an effort to fire them.
A video and audio of the incident shows Thomas being hit repeatedly with fists, a baton and finally the butt of a stun gun by Fullerton police officers.
The officers were responding to a report of a person trying to break into cars at a downtown Fullerton bus depot on the night of July 5, 2011.
Thomas, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in the hospital five days after the struggle with police.
Ramos received the most severe charges because prosecutors contend that he escalated the encounter by threatening Thomas.
The video, shot by a security camera at the bus depot, shows Ramos putting on gloves and threatening, “See my fists? They’re getting ready to [expletive] you up.”
The audio captures Thomas screaming for the officers to stop and calling out for this father to help him.
Back in November, the defense filed a 100-page motion to dismiss the charges against the former officers, claiming they acted within their authority.
20 Comments to “Trial Date Set in Kelly Thomas Beating Case”
January 18, 2013 at 6:54 AM
Its sad that the officers that we pay to protect us can kill someone. it looks like there criminals jumping someone. come on who is the police dept. hiring.
January 18, 2013 at 8:59 AM
Police are state-sanctioned terrorists. Between Fullerton and the pigs in Anaheim shooting two unarmed people in the back on different occasions they’re making Mexican drug cartels look polite by comparison. The typical officer is an abusive, power hungry malcontent that was typically treated poorly throughout school and now wants to “make a difference”.
The people we pay to uphold the laws are *not* above them. Someone needs to remind them of that. Often, and forcefully.
January 18, 2013 at 9:53 AM
Next time you need help stupid, call a hippie instead of the pigs as you refer to them.
January 18, 2013 at 10:28 AM
You act as if police are entitled to command complete respect. You take the majority of a citys tax dollars for payrole/pension then you get upset when someone points out a wrong doing, Are you trying to imply by using a term such as hippie that you are conservative? If your jobs payrole sacks most of the citys taxes then you are probably colser to being a hippie than the poster above.
January 19, 2013 at 6:33 AM
You sound like a pig james if you can't see that these so called cops abused there power as do most cops you need to stop breathing our air.
January 18, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Make the cartels look polite???? So they've been leaving headless bodies all over town?
January 18, 2013 at 11:04 AM
Haha cops are just people who are too dumb to be criminals in the private sector so they do it for the State.
January 18, 2013 at 2:41 PM
Finally. Hope these fukers hang!
January 18, 2013 at 3:07 PM
fry piggy fry!
January 18, 2013 at 3:10 PM
i hope these two are found guilty and sent to pelican bay, bye bye fatso and cockeye, they woulda made a good movie cop team a la' tango and cash, hahahahahaaaaaaa, fatso and cockeye…
January 18, 2013 at 4:29 PM
as Lisa explained I didnt even know that a student able to earn $8766 in 4 weeks on the internet. did you see this link jump15.comCHECK IT OUT
January 18, 2013 at 4:53 PM
A judge with some balls..Hope they get the maximum and sent to general population; they deserve no protections in jail!
Now in reading this…" Back in November, the defense filed a 100-page motion to dismiss the charges against the former officers, claiming they acted within their authority…"
I CALL BS and the defense should be sent to prison imho.
January 18, 2013 at 4:56 PM
justice for kelly jail killer cops!
January 18, 2013 at 9:54 PM
Cpl. Jay Cicinelli should be sentenced to having his good eye poked out with a dull flathead screwdriver. Officer Manuel Ramos should be sentenced to having his head chopped off with a dull axe, and then his fat rotting carcass thrown back over across the border. Just sayin
February 17, 2013 at 9:48 PM
yeah, that's pretty funny…..
January 19, 2013 at 12:09 PM
all of you don't know jack about kelly, i was homeless with him down here you idiots!
February 1, 2013 at 9:01 AM
please tell us something we should know about him
January 23, 2013 at 11:14 PM
Well, please tell us something about him…..
February 15, 2013 at 5:04 AM
I was a Policeman in Australia and I am disgusted to see this, like most, if not all people. The improbable thing is, that members of the public can be seen walking past and nobody even appears to look. I suppose if they had even looked like intervening, they would have been arrested as well for obstruction. I know I would have arrested THOMAS by myself without any problems and so would probably all those thugs. There was absolutely no need for this behavior and they deserve what they get but I fear that nobody will be convicted because it will always be a problem establishing who inflicted the blow which caused the death plus the prosecution won't go hard anyway..
March 1, 2013 at 9:48 AM
Australian Policeman: I’m glad to read your comment, as you are one of the few LEOs to stand firmly on the side of the obviously righteous. Were it a gang who murdered a homeless man, rather than a group of agents of the state, they would have all been charged as equally culpable. This is what we expect; no one, regardless of uniform or position, is above the law.