During Ken Gibson’s time as a federal prosecutor, he handled interesting and complicated cases. Some took him far from his home state of Virginia. In this interview, Ken speaks about one of the most challenging cases he handled.
Ken: “One of the most challenging cases that I handled was the prosecution of a police officer in Los Angeles. As a grandson of a police officer, this was a little difficult for me, because I have the highest respect for law enforcement officers. But as a federal prosecutor, some of the cases I handled involved official misconduct.”
How did it start?
Ken: “I was assigned to this case where a Compton (CA) police officer was stopping women while he was on patrol, abusing his power, and sexually assaulting them. These incidents happened all over the Compton area, and bled into other areas.
“There were a whole series of women, and we had to determine which women were going to be the most credible before the jury, and which ones had the most proof to convince a jury to find him guilty. It was a challenging case. I probably spent almost a year, off and on, out in Los Angeles, working the case with the FBI.”
How did you investigate the case, and what were the obstacles?
Ken: “We interviewed the women, we went to the crime scenes, and we had expert witnesses who collected physical evidence from the crime scenes.
“What was challenging about this case was that it was essentially this officer’s word against the word of several women. Some of these women were kind of ‘on the fringe of society’ and had some baggage. So it was a challenge. But my trial partner and I took this case to heart, and we worked very hard on it.”
How did you present your case? What happened at the trial?
Ken: “It ended up being a two-week jury trial. We focused on presenting the case to the jury visually. We showed them lots of photographs of the crime scenes during the closing argument.
“One of the strengths of the case was that each of the women had picked this particular officer out of a lineup. And so, in our closing argument, I was able to show that. I had an animation of the photo lineup, and the circle around this particular officer, showing that each of these women had identified him in the photo lineup.
“It was a very powerful presentation, and fortunately, we were successful in this case. The officer was found guilty, and held accountable for these terrible sexual assaults.”
Ken’s experience as a federal prosecutor helped him hone his investigative and trial skills, which have proved invaluable in the many personal injury cases he and his partner, John Singleton, have taken on since then.
If you’ve been injured and want experienced representation from a highly skilled legal team, call GibsonSingleton Virginia Injury Attorneys at (804) 413-6777. Your consultation is free, and if we take your case, we will handle all the upfront costs until we get you a fair settlement or jury verdict. That’s our Zero Fee Guarantee.
