Ex-Modesto cop should face trial in manslaughter charge, Stanislaus County DA says

If former Modesto police Officer Joseph Lamantia thought he’d be ambushed by Trevor Seever and forced into a shootout, why was he “rushing headlong” into it? Why didn’t he act as his sergeant did and keep a distance from Seever in order to set up a perimeter around him?

This is part of the argument in a 17-page brief filed by Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Mury as to why Lamantia should be held to answer at trial on the charge of voluntary manslaughter.

Lamantia fatally shot an unarmed Seever on the grounds of Church of the Brethren in December 2020. Lamantia fired seven rounds, and Seever was hit in his back, chest and abdomen and died of blood loss.

Under California law, the shooting will be evaluated largely on what a reasonable officer in the same situation would do based on the “totality of the circumstances known or perceived at the time.”

The actions of a sergeant who arrived at the scene moments after Lamantia are “good evidence of what the reasonable officer would have done in this situation,” Mury’s brief reads.

“It is interesting in this case that we have the detailed explanation of how Sergeant (Derrick) Tyler handled the call from the very beginning in contrast to how it was handled by officer Lamantia,” Mury wrote in the brief.

The 17-page brief, filed last week in Stanislaus Superior Court, also examines how Lamantia’s state of mind and subsequent actions were inconsistent with his training and past experience.

Lamantia was fired from the Modesto Police Department and charged with voluntary manslaughter three months after the shooting.

During the course of a seven-day preliminary hearing that concluded in April, there was testimony from several of Lamantia’s former co-workers, as well as a forensic pathologist and a use-of-force expert who testified for the defense. Preliminary hearings are held for a judge to determine if there is enough probable cause for a defendant to go to trial on the charges brought by a district attorney.

Seever reportedly told family he had a gun

The defense’s brief, due Friday, likely will focus on testimony from use-of-force expert Jeffery Martin, who said, given the totality of the circumstances, an objectively reasonable officer facing similar circumstances would believe himself in immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Those circumstances include reports by Seever’s family that he told them he had a gun, that he was coming to the house and “watch what happens,” and that the family fled the home as a result. Lamantia also had knowledge of an officer safety bulletin that said Seever was a self-identified Hells Angel and had posted on social media, “A good cop is a dead cop” and “All I want for Christmas is another dead MPD Officer.”

Other officers had the same information as they responded to the call on Dec. 29, 2020. Lamantia and other officers also knew that, before they got to the scene, Seever’s family updated a dispatcher that they’d left their home and gone to a church catercorner to the Church of the Brethren, which they’d seen Seever walking toward.

“Unlike Officer Lamantia, Sergeant Tyler, upon hearing the dispatch that Trevor had left the residence, changed his approach to the call,” reads the brief. “Instead of speeding to the location of Trevor and running after him, Sergeant Tyler wanted to slow things down.”

Tyler testified that he requested assistance from the Sheriff’s Department helicopter but it was unavailable. He next requested that unmarked cars respond. He planned to set up a perimeter around Seever.

“Sergeant Tyler believed these responses would have provided for a safe response for officers, citizens, and the individuals involved in the incident,” Mury wrote in the brief.

But Lamantia, from the moment he began responding to the call from four miles away, “was of the mind set that this was going to be a shoot out with Mr. Seever. He gave no thought to any other option or outcome in this situation,” the brief reads.

Lamantia didn’t consider that Seever might not actually be armed, despite this being the case in previous calls about armed suspects he’d responded to during his career, Mury wrote. Lamantia told Internal Affairs Sgt. James Reeves that he knew sometimes people claim someone is armed to elicit more of an emergency response and that “because of this, it is a part of MPD training to question a dispatch report of a person having a gun.”

Lamantia told Reeves he’d been called to the scene of disturbances reportedly involving weapons 600 to 700 times and that the “primary tactical response” in those situations is to wait nearby for additional officers and resources, set up a perimeter around the suspect and make contact with the victim or reporting party.

He never contacted the family to try to confirm if Seever did or did not have a gun, according to the brief.

“Lamantia was 100 percent focused on finding Trevor,” Mury wrote. He was “rushing headlong” into what he perceived was going to be a shootout, rather than waiting for additional resources to arrive and setting up a perimeter as Sgt. Tyler had planned to do.

“It is never a good idea to go into an ambush”

Lamantia entered the south driveway of the church’s parking lot in search of Seever, who he believed was “hunting his family,” according to Reeves’ testimony.

Lamantia told Reeves he spotted Seever to his right, crouched down in an alcove outside the church, according to testimony. As he rounded a curve in the driveway, he perceived what he described to Reeves as “a ‘choke point’ where the buildings got closer to the driveway” and where he thought Seever would ambush him.

“(Lamantia) had to get to Mr. Seever ... Even to the point of driving through what he believed was an ambush when he agreed with Sergeant Reeves that it is never a good idea to go into an ambush,” Mury wrote in the brief.

Lamantia drove a little further east and parked with his vehicle slightly angled to the right to use as cover. Reeves testified that Lamantia was surprised when he got out and Seever wasn’t there. Lamantia ran around the corner and saw Seever running away from him.

“(Lamantia) never gave a thought to this being simply a person running from Law Enforcement,” the brief says.

Lamantia yelled at Seever to get on the ground and then fired four shots at him.

Seever dropped to the ground after the first shots were fired. Reeves said Lamantia believed Seever still was trying to retrieve a firearm and yelled at him to “show me your hands.”

In body camera video, Seever’s right arm can be seen dropping and then going back up twice. Lamantia yelled the order to show his hands several more times, then fired three additional rounds. Seever dropped to the ground and yelled in pain. He later died at a hospital.

“Officer Lamantia never saw Trevor’s hands, nor did he ever see Trevor with a weapon or make any movement toward Officer Lamantia,” Mury wrote in the brief. “Officer Lamantia was aware he could get on the ground or move to his left back towards the building where the alcove was located.”

After the defense files its brief, the prosecutor will have a chance to respond to it before Judge Carrie Stephens makes her decision during a hearing scheduled in July.