Prosecutors have turned a misdemeanor molehill into a felony mountain by distorting a simple drunken brawl into an attempt at manslaughter and a cover-up, attorneys for a martial arts instructor told a Little Rock federal jury Wednesday.
Rodrigo Pinedo Gomez of Colorado is not blameless, but he's not the raging monster prosecutors have tried to make him out to be, defense attorney Blake Byrd said in Wednesday's closing arguments.
Gomez is charged with attempted voluntary manslaughter, assault with a dangerous weapon, making a false statement, resisting a federal officer and three counts of misdemeanor assault.
Gomez has the skills to kill someone, but he did not use them that night, the attorney said of the 2016 incident.
The 44-year-old jujitsu instructor is at worst guilty of misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest, but not of the "amped-up ... overblown and overcharge [multi-felony] spectacle" that he's accused of, Byrd said.
"These incidents happen all of the time whenever there are men, alcohol and testosterone," the attorney told jurors. "Crimes happened here, but no felonies. You have to try and see this through the eyes of Mr. Gomez, imperfect man that he is."
Gomez did not testify in the trial. Jury deliberations before U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. begin at 9 a.m. today.
Gomez was so drunk during the New Year's Eve 2016 incident that he didn't really know what was going on, but thought he was going to the rescue of his family, Byrd and co-counsel Molly Sullivan, argued.
Gomez had seen his wife and 16-year-old daughter manhandled, while his son, also a jujitsu instructor, was wrestling on the floor with another assailant, so he had every reason, particularly because he was so drunk, to believe that his family was in danger and that he needed to save them, Byrd said.
Federal prosecutor Frank Rangoussis accused Gomez's lawyers of concocting a "barroom brawl" defense to try to excuse or minimize what Gomez had done by blaming his alcohol consumption. Every move Gomez made showed him to be sober enough to know what he was doing, Rangoussis said.
Prosecutor Stacy Williams said Gomez never passed up an opportunity to make the situation worse, beginning when he struck first, slapping a man who'd spoken harshly to him while Gomez was on the phone.
That slap kicked off the whole encounter, which pitted Gomez and his adult son against four men after a night of drinking.
Gomez even ended the night by slapping a second man, despite being in police handcuffs and being taken into custody, she said.
"Anger, aggression ... an unprovoked attack ... escalation," Williams told jurors. "Dec. 31, 2016, Mr. Gomez turned the [restaurant] into his own personal jujitsu ring."
In her spirited closing statement, Williams swung her arms, stomped a foot and twisted her hands to mimic the maneuvers Gomez used that night. The entire incident was recorded on video, which has been repeatedly replayed in bits and pieces for the jury over the past three days.
"You can see it for yourself," Williams said.
"Gruesome" is how she described the moment when Gomez violently twists the neck of Airman Souleyman Dia, as Dia and Miguel Gomez grappled on the floor.
The video shows the son's legs wrapped around Dia. Rodrigo Gomez is behind Dia and puts his left hand under Dia's chin while turning the man's head sharply to the right with his right hand.
Gomez followed that move by stomping on Dia's head and pummeling him several times, the video shows.
Gomez is also accused of lying about how the fight started by falsely claiming that Dia attacked him, the prosecutor said. The resisting charge stems from the way Gomez tried to pull free of the police officers attempting to take him into custody.
Gomez was the only one of the group to need medical attention that night and spent several hours in the hospital, according to testimony. He suffered a gash over his left eye, that took five stitches to close, and a perforated eardrum.
Miguel Gomez, 21, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal assault charge last week to avoid trial in exchange for a resisting-arrest count being dropped.
The fight occurred at Cafe Mokuteki on the U.S. Air Force base in Misawa, Japan. But the trial is in Little Rock because Gomez's wife is an Air Force major, and Little Rock was the family of five's last stateside station before Eloise Gomez was transferred to Japan.
Metro on 04/25/2019