Ex-city cop sentenced for police brutality pleads guilty in two pending criminal cases
FALL RIVER — Former Fall River police officer Michael Pessoa, in prison since his conviction and sentencing for the first of three criminal cases in June, has pleaded guilty to the two remaining cases against him for use of excessive force and civil rights violations.
The second trial against Pessoa, a nearly 20-year police veteran, was set to begin on Dec. 4 before he pled guilty Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Thomas McGuire Jr.
In that case, the veteran city patrol officer was accused of severely injuring former city resident Carlos Roldan in October 2014 during an arrest.
In the third pending case which was not yet scheduled for trial, Pessoa is accused of assaulting and injuring Aliecer Rodriguez in March 2018.
Roldan filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city (and settled for $225,000 in 2019) that named Pessoa and another former Fall River police officer, Andrew DeMelo, in the complaint.
When was former Fall River cop Pessoa's first trial?
During a six-day jury trial in May, Pessoa was found guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, witness intimidation, civil rights violations and filing false reports involving city resident David Lafrance during an arrest in February 2019.
Pessoa testified at trial in his own defense.
“I am pleased the defendant pled guilty and accepted responsibility for assaulting and violating the civil rights of multiple victims. Unfortunately the defendant engaged in a pattern of conduct involving repeated abuse of his authority and use of excessive force against members of the public," said Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn.
"Based on the facts and circumstances of all the cases I felt the defendant should have received additional time in jail. Sadly, the defendant’s conduct can undermine people’s confidence in the police. However, his conduct in these cases is not reflective of the vast majority of officers who are doing a very difficult job to protect the public.”
Guilty Fall River ex-cop Michael Pessoa guilty of excessive force. A judge has sent him to jail.
Similar sentencing
According to court records, Pessoa pleaded guilty to the two pending cases and in return received a sentence to serve at least 1 ½ years in prison and no more than three years.
Pessoa will be able to serve time on all three cases concurrently, meaning serving all the sentences at the same time.
It was the same punishment he received in the case involving Lafrance.
Pessoa struck Lafrance in the face as another police officer was removing handcuffs. It was captured on a security camera at the South Main Street apartment building where the incident occurred.
The video was played repeatedly for the jury throughout the trial.
Pessoa was indicted in June 2019 on 15 counts of assault, civil rights violations and filing false police reports after he was indicted by a state grand jury, originally for assaulting four detained men in different instances. The fourth alleged victim died after his indictment and the case was dropped.
Civil case still outstanding naming Pessoa
Lafrance filed a $2 million federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the city in January 2022 for the 2019 assault.
Before the trial, the civil case was paused, but the stay was lifted shortly after Pessoa was found guilty.
The case is still pending with a status conference scheduled for March 2024.
Pending Family of New Bedford man shot by Fall River police files $34 million lawsuit against department
Pessoa is also named among a long list of defendants in a multimillion-dollar civil case for excessive force filed after the shooting death of a 19-year-old New Bedford man, Larry Ruiz-Barreto, who was hit five times by six shots fired by Fall River Police Officer Nicholas Hoar around midnight on Nov. 12, 2017.
Pessoa was among a group of police officers who brawled with Ruiz-Barreto's family members at Charlton Memorial Hospital after the shooting.
Hoar is awaiting his own federal criminal case in a separate alleged excessive force incident.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Michael Pessoa pleads guilty in two more police brutality cases
