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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A state appeals court panel Friday ordered a criminal case to be reinstated against two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies who were charged with filing a false report involving a 2018 arrest in East Los Angeles.
In a 20-page ruling in the case of Woodrow Kim and Jonathan Miramontes, the three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal concluded that "there is a rational basis for believing that each defendant committed the crime of filing a false report."
Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen dismissed the case against Kim and Miramontes in August 2022, finding that there was "insufficient evidence" against them.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office subsequently asked another judge, Norman Shapiro, to reinstate the criminal complaint, but Shapiro denied that request in September 2022.
The District Attorney's Office subsequently appealed the decision by Shapiro, who has since retired.
Miramontes' attorney, Tom Yu, said he was "disappointed" with the appellate court panel's ruling. He said he was still evaluating what to do next, but expects to ask for the felony charge to be reduced to a misdemeanor.
Kim and Miramontes were charged in August 2021 with one count each of filing a false report. Kim was also charged with a felony count of assault under the color of authority that was dismissed in August 2022, but the District Attorney's Office did not seek a reversal of that decision.
Kim was accused of opening the driver's side door of a patrol vehicle and knocking a man to the ground following a vehicle pursuit that ended in Ruben Salazar Park on Sept. 19, 2018, according to a statement issued by the District Attorney's Office the day the case was filed.
In their opinion, the appellate court justices wrote that surveillance video depicted the patrol car's door hitting the man with sufficient force to propel him forward and then to the ground. The justices concluded in their ruling that Kim's statement in a report that the man was "`still standing' after the impact was false," and that Miramontes' report "includes at least two affirmative statements of fact that a reasonable trier of fact could have found false."
Kim and Miramontes were responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call involving occupants in a black BMW who had allegedly threatened a motorist with a gun, according to the District Attorney's Office.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said its Employee Support Services lists Miramontes as "currently actively employed," while Kim is "currently relieved of duty."