San Diego, California – A federal jury on Monday convicted San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremiah Manuyag Flores of violating the civil rights of a man in pretrial custody, finding that Flores used excessive force inside the San Diego Central Courthouse and then attempted to conceal his actions by filing a false report.
After roughly two hours of deliberation, jurors found Flores guilty on both counts brought against him: depriving a detainee of his constitutional right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and falsifying a record during a federal investigation. The verdict caps a case that centered on a violent encounter caught not on camera, but reconstructed through testimony, medical evidence, and the paper trail Flores left behind.
The victim, identified in court records as 57-year-old J.P., was in custody on August 29, 2024, following a court hearing at the downtown courthouse. Evidence presented at trial showed that J.P. was fully restrained at the time of the incident, with his legs chained and his hands cross-chained to his waist, when Flores was assigned to escort him to a holding cell…