Felonious bunk: Sacramento judge upholds felony assault charge against Mayor Kevin Johnson’s pie-tosser

A Sacramento Superior Court judge upheld a felony assault charge against Sean Thompson—a military veteran and advocate for the homeless who creamed Mayor Kevin Johnson with a pie in September.

Thompson and his attorney Claire White watched from the defense table of a virtually empty courtroom last week as Sacramento County Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz called a single witness to testify about the infamous pie incident that took place September 21 at Sacramento High School, which ended with Thompson on the ground taking face punches from K.J.

Police Detective Orlando Moralez, assigned to the mayor’s protection detail, testified during the November 3 pretrial hearing that he was called to the scene, an afternoon fundraising event, after the fracas, where a witness told him she’d watched Thompson sneak up on the mayor holding a plastic bag and then whip out a pie to give him a good splattering. When Ortiz asked the detective how the witness had described Thompson’s demeanor, Moralez responded, “She said the act was full of anger and aggression.”

Moralez also testified that Johnson told him the pie hitting his face had caused a pain that went from his neck down to his spine, similar to a whiplash injury.

During cross examination, White attempted to ask Moralez if he had read any of the statements from actual eye witnesses, including nearby members of law enforcement. White specifically attempted to reference a report by Detective Calvin Lynn, which she said characterized witnesses’ view that Thompson’s actions were “just a prank.” After Moralez answered that he could not recall reading those statements before coming to court, a frustrated White told Judge Paul L. Seave that Moralez wasn’t qualified to testify.

“The district attorney’s office chose to bring an officer here today who was not the primary investigator in the case and who happened to interview the only two witnesses in the entire case who described what Mr. Thompson did as a violent act,” she said.

Both the prosecution and defense agreed in court that Thompson was motivated to pie Johnson to protest the treatment of Sacramento’s homeless, though they strongly disagreed on whether the act counted as “retaliation” against a public official.

When Seave was ready to hear closing arguments, White stressed that Thompson’s assault charge should be knocked down to a misdemeanor.

“Mr. Thompson in no way attempted to injure the mayor, and whether this rises to the level of a felony is where the rubber meets the road,” she said. “The felonies we see in cases with this charge are for vicious attacks where significant injuries are sustained. We have a young man who squashed a cream pie in someone’s face. This is textbook misdemeanor behavior.”

Ortiz countered that the circumstances, coupled with Johnson’s vulnerability as a public figure constantly attending events, justified treating Thompson as a felon.

“There is no avoiding ’the pie,’” Ortiz admitted in a nod to the tenor of the media coverage. “Mr. Thompson has a long history of demonstrating and certainly understands peaceful activism. … This was a well-planned attempt to humiliate the mayor in front of his mother and his wife, and in front of the public. And it was an aggressive act, because he grabbed the mayor and swung his arm around near his face.”

Ortiz added, “At first glance it might seem laughable, but this is a mayor that has to put himself out there every day, open to assault, and Mr. Thompson took advantage of that.”

Before rendering his verdict on whether the charge would move forward as a felony, the judge reflected on two other culprits known for pie-related shenanigans. “The word ’pie’ in some ways calls up the image of Abbott and Costello,” Seave told the attorneys. “But in Abbott and Costello, when someone gets hit with a pie, no one ever gets hurt. But here we have testimony that [Johnson] felt pain the next day.”

Seave ruled Thompson will stand trial in January still facing a felony. Exiting the courtroom, White noted aloud, in reference to the mayor’s possible whiplash, that such injuries can also be self-inflicted while beating someone who threw a pie at you.