TASER NOT KEY CAUSE OF DEATH, DA SAYS

Salinas: Victim's Family Disputes Findings

The death of Robert Clark Heston was caused primarily by drug use and
not from multiple hits from Taser stun guns used by Salinas police,
the District Attorney's Office concluded Tuesday after a 10-month probe.

The investigation was undertaken to determine whether there was
enough evidence for filing criminal charges against Salinas police
officers who stunned Heston, 40, five times on the afternoon of Feb.
19 at his father's home in the 100 block of Rodeo Avenue.

After authorities kept ordering more autopsy reports, Heston's
relatives said Tuesday they weren't surprised by the District
Attorney's findings.

"We already knew that they were going to shop around until they got
the results they wanted," said Misty Kastner, Robert Clark Heston's
sister. "It doesn't excuse that fact that the amount of times he was
stunned was too many, especially when he was on drugs. That is a no-no."

The Herald has attempted to obtain the autopsy reports, which have
not been released, since early August.

"There's no perfect solution to any of this," said Assistant District
Attorney Berkley Brannon. He said he couldn't say whether the
findings would prompt changes in the way local law enforcement uses Tasers.

"This office definitely isn't taking a position on Taser use," Brannon said.

The District Attorney's full report on Heston's death includes a
summary of three autopsy reports.

The first was conducted two days after Heston died. The County
Coroner's forensic pathologist, Dr. Terri Haddix said Heston's death
was the result of multiple-organ system failure, triggered by a heart
attack that was prompted by the man's agitated drug state and the Taser jolts.

Salinas Police Chief Daniel Ortega and Monterey County Sheriff Mike
Kanalakis each ordered another autopsy report following Haddix's
findings. The second and third reports listed the cause of death as
nearly the same and identified Taser use as a contributing factor.

Both doctors stressed that the death should be ruled accidental
because of Heston's history of drug use and said that police couldn't
have known the side effects of their weapons on Heston. Both reports
said the underlying cause was methamphetamine intoxication, which
affected Heston's already agitated state as police attempted to subdue him.

Dr. Steven Karch, a retired medical examiner for the city of San
Francisco, wrote that without the high levels of methamphetamine
found in Heston's system, the Taser shocks alone would not have put
him in harm's way. He acknowledged, however, that there's no precise
way to tell how the Taser affected Heston. "Taser use is the
confounding issue in this case, largely because so little is know
about the effects of this device on individuals with heart disease,
let alone methamphetamine intoxication and excited delirium," wrote Karch.

Excited delirium is a controversial syndrome that has been used to
explain in-custody deaths across the country.

"The published peer-reviewed research consists largely of anecdotal
reports describing people who have been shocked with this device.
There is a paucity of experimental literature," Karch said.

"There's a huge gap in the science. Let's face it," said Assistant
District Attorney Berkley Brannon. "There's no scientific way to
portion the precise responsibility of bringing about death in any
case where officers are in a violent (brawl) with a subject."

Brannon repeated the doctors' assertions that there were numerous
factors involved in Heston's death, including the fact that he had
ingested a large dose of methamphetamine and had an enlarged heart
due to drug use.

"Heston was on a violent rampage," Brannon said. "The police tried to
subdue him and used a Taser. Mr. Heston violently resisted the police
until the very end," he said.

Making note of Heston's criminal record, he said, "There's no doubt
the Taser was part of his death. But the Taser use is attributable to
Mr. Heston."

But Kurt Kastner said his brother-in-law was not on a rampage when
officers first came to the residence earlier in the day. They should
have arrested him then, he said, because the alcohol or drugs he had
consumed were a violation of his parole.

"He didn't attack anybody," said Kastner. "He was throwing things out
the door. He wasn't throwing things directly at the cops or any one
person.... My father-in-law told them that if they weren't going to
arrest him, then they might as well leave.

Kastner said he told police, "Hey, you better not leave. All hell is
going to break loose if you leave."

Nearly an hour later, a group of officers returned, subduing Heston
inside the house with five hits from their Taser guns. He died the next day.