Jill Ravitch spent $63,000 on Andy Lopez review

Sonoma County prosecutors spent $63,000 on outside consultants, employee overtime and other expenses during a five-month investigation into the death of Andy Lopez, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy who mistook the teen’s airsoft BB gun for an AK-47 assault rifle.

The expense, which came in addition to regular pay for four attorneys and two investigators, included a $10,000 payment to a Minnesota-based lethal-force adviser who has been criticized for siding too often with law enforcement.

William Lewinski, director of the Force Science Institute, bills himself as an authority on human behavior in “high-stress, life-threatening encounters.” He issued a detailed report concluding Deputy Erick Gelhaus had to shoot 13-year-old Lopez to stop a perceived threat to the deputy and his partner.

District Attorney Jill Ravitch relied in part on Lewinski to make her own finding that the killing was lawful and Gelhaus would not be prosecuted.

But critics, including Oakland defense attorney Michael Haddad, said Lewinski’s conclusion is no surprise. Lewinski is known in legal circles as someone who can be relied upon to testify in favor of police officers to help justify fatal shootings, Haddad said.

Haddad said agencies who hire Lewinski aren’t seeking the truth so much as trying to legitimize a pre-determined decision.

“He’s the guy police departments go to when they are forced to defend an indefensible shooting,” said Haddad, who faced Lewinski in a civil lawsuit stemming from the 2001 shooting death of an Oakland police officer by members of his own force. “Lewinski will find a way to exonerate the officer.”

Ravitch said Tuesday that Lewinski came recommended by a “variety of different sources” and provided information used in her decision that remains undisputed today. She shrugged off suggestions that he is biased, saying it’s the nature of the adversarial system for an expert to receive criticism from the opposing side.

“People may disagree with an outcome, but that doesn’t mean the opinion in support of the outcome is inaccurate,” Ravitch said. “His was a small piece of a very large puzzle that we put together.”

Lewinski said in an email Tuesday he provides objective testimony and never offers opinions about whether officers acted within the law or department policy. He said his task in the Gelhaus case was narrowed by questions about what the deputy perceived and did.

“Regardless of the criticisms charged against us, they do not bear any weight under the scrutiny of scientific review or an objective, informed judge,” Lewinski said.

Lewinski’s payment was just one expense in an investigation started by the district attorney in January.

The biggest single outlay was about $43,000 paid to Craig Fries of Grass Valley-based Precision Simulations , who created a 3-D animation of the shooting. Reese T. Jones was paid $1,000 to analyze the effects of recent marijuana use on Lopez.

The office racked up about $4,000 in overtime, the bulk going to Investigator Tim Dempsey. And it spent about $5,000 on miscellaneous costs, including $4,500 in transcripts and $150 for two AK-47 replicas like the one Lopez was carrying.

One of the guns was manipulated by investigators and the other will be preserved as evidence, Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook said.

Lewinski, a former Minnesota State University law enforcement professor, has testified for police in dozens of cases across the country, in Canada and in the United Kingdom, dating back to the early 1990s. His website calls him one of the world’s leading behavioral scientists, specializing in officer perception.

His work, which includes officer training, has been highlighted on Discovery Channel Canada and 48 Investigates. Articles from his bi monthly newsletter are distributed by an association of international police chiefs, the website said.

His report on the Lopez shooting was based on interviews with a dozen officers, including Gelhaus, and about 15 witnesses. Gelhaus, a department armorer and 23-year veteran, was riding in a patrol car Oct. 22 when he spotted Lopez walking along Moorland Avenue with what he thought was an AK-47 rifle.

His partner pulled the car over, and Gelhaus got out on the passenger side, drawing his gun and taking cover behind his door. Gelhaus yelled at Lopez to drop the rifle but the boy turned, raising his barrel in the direction of the deputies, Gelhaus said.

Knowing shots from an AK-47 could penetrate car doors and bulletproof vests, Gelhaus fired eight times, fatally wounding Lopez. The rifle Lopez was carrying was later determined to be an airsoft-style BB gun.

Lewinski concluded that Gelhaus and his partner could have been shot several times if the deputy had waited to confirm whether the gun was real.

He cited case studies, including his own, on officer stress and outcome prediction, drawing comparisons to baseball batters who swing early rather than waiting for the pitch to cross the plate.

“Successful baseball batters predict the ball’s path of travel as it leaves the pitcher’s hand,” Lewinski wrote. “

Lewinski testified for police in other high-profile cases in which officer stress was a theme. He said it was likely a factor in the 2009 shooting of Oakland resident Oscar Grant by former BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle, and may have caused Mehserle to draw his gun instead of his Taser and shoot Grant in the back as he subdued him.

Jurors acquitted Mehserle of murder but convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

Before Mehserle’s case, Lewinski was called in a civil lawsuit for Oakland police officers who shot and killed undercover detective Willie Wilkins while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. Likewise, Lewinski said stress may have confused officers who testified in the criminal trial that they heard Wilkins identify himself before he was shot, Haddad said.

Police were cleared of criminal wrongdoing but settled a civil case for $3.5 million, he said.

Haddad, who is president of the National Police Accountability Project, accused Lewinski of using “junk science.” He said Lewinski is beholden to police and believes their job is so stressful it excuses them of mistakes that put the public at risk.

“It’s disgraceful,” Haddad said. “I think it discredits the D.A. to hire someone so notoriously biased in favor of police.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.