“We are here because the defendant, Jerado Alcarez, spit on Winnemucca Police Officer, Heather Cahill, while he was in lawful custody and she was discharging her official duty,” Wendy Maddox, Deputy District Attorney, addressed to the courtroom on the afternoon of June 9.
The case at hand was the State of Nevada vs. Jerado Alcarez in which the defendant, Mr. Alcarez, was accused of spitting on a police officer while under lawful custody.
The official charges read by the court were as follows:
“Unlawful acts related to human excrement or bodily fluid, a gross misdemeanor, in violation of 212189 was committed by the above named defendant. Who at the time and place of aforesaid did willfully and unlawfully, while being a prisoner in lawful custody or under lawful arrest, used, propell, discharge, spread or conceal or caused to be used propell, discharge, spread or conceal any human excrement or bodily fluid with the intent to have the excrement or bodily fluid come into physical contact with any portion of the body of an officer or employee of a prison or law enforcement agency, whether or not such physical contact occurred.”
The act of spitting was said to occur at Humboldt General Hospital on the evening of Oct. 12, 2019. On that evening, Officer Heather Cahill was transporting Alcarez to HGH to receive medical clearance before taking Alcarez to his final destination of Humboldt County Jail.
The foundational form of evidence in this case was video footage taken from Officer Cahill’s state required body camera. Over an hour of body cam footage was admitted into evidence by Maddox.
“The evidence is going to show this entire thing is depicted on a personal recording device, a body camera, that was on the police officer. That is the best evidence we have or will have,” Matt Stermitz, Mr. Alcarez’s attorney stated in his opening arguments.
Maddox had the court view the footage during Officer Cahill’s testimony, pausing the video frequently to question Cahill and clarify the events that occurred.
Throughout the extensive amount of footage, Alcarez could be heard speaking derogatory language and remarks towards the officer. The prosecution emphasized Alcarez’s lack of cooperation towards the officer, as the body camera captured the two getting into physical struggles in the hospital waiting room.
During one of these struggles, the defendant was put onto his stomach on the floor by Officer Cahill to subdue his resistance and hope to gain some sense of cooperation from him. It was at this point the defendant can be heard spitting towards the officer.
It should be noted that the act of spitting was not effectively captured due to the angle of the body camera, which is why the prosecution also relied upon testimony by Kyle Jones, a security officer at HGH, and Brittany Lopez, a receptionist at HGH, both of whom witnessed the evidence occur.
Though the charges were specifically “unlawful acts related to human excrement or bodily fluid” throughout the case, the prosecution encouraged the jury to view the entire context of the situation rather than just zooming into the act of spitting.
“Not only is this a case about spitting on a police officer, this is also a case about taking responsibility for unlawful conduct. At the close of the evidence, I’m going to ask you to hold Jerado Alcarez accountable for his conduct and find him guilty of the crime charge, unlawful acts related to human excrement or bodily fluid,” Maddox said.
In contrast, the defendant’s counsel chose to focus on the charges at hand.
“Every book has two covers, and on one cover is the allegation. The allegation is simply spitting on or at. That’s the allegation, not all this other stuff. The allegation, the only reason why were here, is the allegation of spitting. That’s on one cover. And on the other cover is a picture of an innocent man, Mr. Alcarez,” Stermitz said.
After two days of testimonies, the jury found Mr. Alcarez to be guilty of unlawful acts of bodily fluid or human excrement.
In light of this guilty verdict, the Division of Parole and Probation will complete a Pre-Sentence Investigation Report and the matter will then proceed to sentencing. Judge Montero will then decide how Alcarez will be sentenced for the charges.
