A federal jury declared a mistrial on Thursday morning after failing to reach a unanimous decision regarding the guilt of former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy Aaron Richard Russell, who was accused of civil rights violations related to the fatal shooting of an unarmed man, Nicholas Bils, in 2020.
Russell, 28, faced serious charges for depriving Bils of his constitutional rights under color of law after he shot him in the back. Bils had just escaped from a law enforcement vehicle and was running away with handcuffs still attached to one wrist when he was shot.
If convicted, Russell faced a potential life sentence for the civil rights violation, along with additional charges for discharging a firearm in relation to a violent crime.
The jury deliberated for four full days, alongside parts of two others, before ultimately reporting that they were deadlocked. According to one juror, the initial split was 11-1 in favor of conviction, but that shifted to about 8-4 later in the deliberations.
Defense attorney Richard Pinckard remarked outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego that the outcome was not celebratory.
“Even if he had won, it wouldn’t be a joyful outcome. A man lost his life. And that is not something that my client will ever forget,” Pinckard stated, highlighting the emotional burden Russell carries.
In court, federal prosecutors indicated their intention to retry the case, and U.S. District Judge Todd Robinson scheduled a status hearing for next month to discuss the future steps in the proceedings.
Russell, who resigned from the Sheriff’s Office five days post-shooting, had already pled guilty to a state charge of voluntary manslaughter in 2022, serving about five months in jail.
Initially, county prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder, marking Russell as the first law enforcement official in San Diego to face such a charge in the shooting of a suspect. This case was significant also because he was the first officer in California to be prosecuted under the stricter use-of-force standards that had been enacted shortly before Bils’ shooting.
In his plea agreement for voluntary manslaughter, Russell admitted to having an “unreasonable” belief that he or others were in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury, claiming that he genuinely believed the use of deadly force was necessary.
In a federal lawsuit concluded last year, the county agreed to pay Nicholas Bils’ family $8.1 million. The case resurfaced in May 2023 when a federal grand jury indicted Russell on civil rights violations more than four years after the incident.
During the opening statements of the recent trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Askins alleged that Russell shot Bils purely for running away, emphasizing that none of the other officers at the scene viewed Bils as a threat.
“No officer on scene thought Nicholas Bils was a threat,” Askins stated during the trial.
In contrast, Russell defended his actions by claiming he believed Bils was armed with a gun, stating, “The act of running was not why I shot Mr. Bils.”
A juror later revealed to the Union-Tribune that Russell’s credibility was a significant point of discussion during deliberations. He noted that many jurors were skeptical of Russell’s testimony, feeling he might have fabricated his account to bolster his defense, given that he had not articulated that he thought Bils was armed until now.
The jurors were generally unanimous on three of the four key elements of the crime, including that Russell acted under color of law, deprived Bils of his constitutional rights against unreasonable force by law enforcement, and that the incident involved the use of a dangerous weapon leading to Bils’ death.
The contentious component was whether Russell acted willfully, with some jurors struggling with the legal definition of willfulness, according to the juror’s comments.
The shooting occurred on the evening of May 1, 2020, shortly after California had implemented COVID-19 restrictions. Bils had been arrested at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park for violating these restrictions while he played with his dog. As he fled from California State Park rangers who had apprehended him, witnesses stated he briefly brandished a golf putter in a threatening manner.
As Bils was taken back to the Central Jail in two park rangers’ vehicles, he managed to slip one arm out of his handcuffs, opening the door from the outside of the vehicle with the handle. Video footage presented during the trial depicted how as Bils began running away, one ranger was still attempting to exit their truck.
State Parks Ranger Jessica Murany testified that she knew Bils was not a threat as he escaped.
Upon seeing Bils flee across the street, Russell, who had only recently graduated from the San Diego Regional Training Academy, drew his weapon and fired five shots within a span of just over one second. Four bullets struck Bils, one of which hit him in the back.
Surprised by the sudden violence, Murany reportedly shouted aloud, questioning what had just transpired.
Video footage captured from a street camera showed Russell re-holstering his weapon immediately after the shooting while Bils was staggering and struggling to reach the curb. Murany pointed out that this action contradicted the typical police training, where officers are instructed to “stay on target until the threat is neutralized.”
Prosecutors contended that Russell’s hasty re-holstering indicated he did not genuinely believe Bils was armed or posed a lethal threat, ultimately framing the case as central to the discussion of reasonable use of force in police encounters.
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