the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
May 26, 2025
In June 2023, Jacy Houseton, a black woman, was filming two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during an arrest in Lancaster, California. One of the deputies, Trevor Kirk, ran toward Houseton, grabbed her by the neck, and threw her face down on the ground. Kirk then twisted Houseton’s arm and pushed his knee on her neck, in a move similar to what killed George Floyd in 2020. Finally, to top it all off, Kirk pepper sprayed Houseton in the face, twice.
Kirk’s body camera captured this barbaric assault in great detail, and Houseton testified in court that, besides the burns on her face and neck, she had suffered a broken wrist. Last February, a federal jury found Kirk guilty of “deprivation of rights under the color of law,” the only charge the authorities had filed against Kirk.
But once again, cops’ unions and right-wing politicians rushed to defend a brutal cop caught on camera. A spokesman of the L.A. sheriff’s deputies’ union wrote Trump, asking him to intervene—and the Trump administration is now pressuring the judge to overturn the verdict. Bill Essayli, an interim U.S. attorney appointed just last month by Trump, hastily pushed through a “plea agreement” with Kirk—AFTER Kirk was already convicted, that is. The news media reported that the four prosecutors on the case have all resigned in protest.
Kirk’s felony conviction carries a possible prison sentence of 10 years, but the new prosecutor on the case, Rob Keenan, wants the judge to call Kirk’s assault a misdemeanor, sentence him only to a year’s probation, and allow him to keep his job. Never mind that Kirk actually has a history of violence. In early 2024, he was arrested by his own sheriff’s department for domestic violence against his wife. Kirk escaped being indicted only because his wife ended up not filing charges against him.
So, when the judge asked Keenan why Kirk should go free, Keenan said that the trial gave Kirk “an opportunity to hear from 12 good people from the community that they thought his conduct was excessive, and now he’s admitted that.”
In this so-called “justice system,” even the most brutal and murderous cops can count on the protection of their higher-ups and legal authorities.