Judge Finds Arcata Police Officer Had Reasonable Cause to Arrest Zoellner, Throws out Jury’s $776,300 Award

From left to right: David Josiah Lawson, the deceased, and Kyle Zoellner, shown badly beaten in this mugshot when he was originally arrested for Lawson’s stabbing death.

Yesterday, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley overturned the $776,300 awarded by the jury in the lawsuit by Kyle Zoellner against a former Arcata Police Officer in his case alleging wrongful arrest for the murder of David Josiah Lawson in 2017. The judge ruled for the defendant, former officer Eric Losey, saying that even though Zoellner had convinced the jury that malicious prosecution had occurred, “a reasonable officer could believe there was a fair probability Mr. Zoellner stabbed Mr. Lawson… .”  By law, a jury is not at liberty to decide the merits of probable cause, so a judge needed to weigh in on the final element of the verdict – to decide and determine whether or not there was probable cause for the arrest in the first place.

Zoellner needed to meet a standard of proof demanding a “preponderance of evidence” in his favor with regard to his allegations that malicious prosecution was at play.  

Screengrab from the Judge’s October 17, 2022 Order affirming Probable Cause for Zoellner’s arrest in the Lawson case, and overturning the jury’s verdict awarding monetary compensation to the tune of $776,300.00 to Zoellner, payable by the City of Arcata and Eric Losey. Another $50,000 in punitive damages were also awarded.

The Judge Corley writes, “[O]ne element of that claim requires Mr. Zoellner to prove that no reasonable officer with Mr. Losey’s knowledge would have probable cause to believe Mr. Zoellner stabbed Mr. Lawson. After hearing the evidence at trial, considering the parties’ post-trial briefs, and holding oral argument on October 13, 2022, the Court concludes that Mr. Zoellner has not proved the lack of probable cause element of his malicious prosecution claim.”  [Bold text added by us for emphasis]

Responding to our email, the City of Arcata’s attorney, Patrick Moriearty had some feedback as for the judge’s ruling, and clarified that the civil case leveled against former Arcata Police officer Eric Losey is concluded with the Judge’s ruling in favor of Losey.  According to Moriearty, “The judge found that the plaintiff was unable to prove an essential element of malicious prosecution, which is the probable cause standard.  The judge’s ruling set aside the jury’s verdict in favor of Kyle’ Zoellner, and against Eric Losey.” The city’s attorney added, “The court’s ruling ends the trial with judgment in favor of defendant Eric Losey.”

Charmaine Lawson at 2020 memorial rally in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

She added, “I am emotionally exhausted, but not giving up. I’m never gonna give up until Justice is served for my son. I’m not going away. I know that Kyle Christopher Zoellner, based on the evidence, is responsible for the murder of my son.”

Near the beginning of the written Order disenfranchising Zoellner of his potential monetary windfall, the Honorable Judge Corley set the stage for the findings, and laid out the context of the matter.  She explained the circumstances, writing, “This action arises out of the stabbing death of David Josiah Lawson on April 15, 2017, in Arcata, California. Kyle Zoellner was arrested and charged with Mr. Lawson’s murder. However, following a preliminary hearing that began 10 business days after the district attorney filed the charge, a state court judge found that the district attorney had not proved probable cause to hold Mr. Zoellner for trial and dismissed the murder charge without prejudice. Mr. Zoellner thereafter initiated this action.” 

In response to an email inquiry last week for comment on the case’s outcome and the allegations made on behalf of Zeollner, his Attorney Elisabeth Zareh replied promptly, before the Judge’s Order was handed down, and asserted that the Lawson case had been mishandled by not only the Arcata Police Department, but by the county DA’s office which makes determinations as to what criminal charges are leveled, as well.  

Ms. Zareh did not mince words as Zoellner’s legal counsel, and wrote in response to our email, “Framing someone for first degree murder with a sentence of 25 years to life is nothing but malicious. The community needs to know that their police department engaged in malicious conduct to frame one of its own citizens. This is not a simple issue and should not be treated lightly.”

With yesterday’s finding by a judge nearly 500 miles away from Humboldt’s ongoing Lawson death investigation, the possibility for prosecution of the Lawson case is given renewed attention, despite validated claims that there were elements of “malicious prosecution” related to the arrest of Zoellner, and at play once the case was presented in Humboldt County Criminal Court. As current Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming made clear in an email to us, the DA’s Office considers allegations made by Zoellner that local officials colluded to frame him for Lawson’s murder unfounded.

D.A. Maggie Fleming has faced considerable hostility for her decision not retry Kyle Zoellner at this time as shown by this sign held by protesters at Arcata Plaza in 2019. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Judge Corley continued, “Further, the identification of Mr. Zoellner as the stabber was corroborated by Mr. Wright’s credible and nearly-contemporaneous observations.” Making clear that the court was not assessing the strength of the prosecution’s case, adding, “[T]he evidence emphasized by Mr. Zoellner may have made it difficult to prove his conduct beyond a reasonable doubt, but it does not defeat the much lower standard of probable cause.” 

Describing the ill-fated night in Arcata in detail, the Order Regarding Probable Cause Element is twelve pages of carefully outlined justification for upholding the original arrest of Zyle Zoellner, in spite of contention as to police mishandling of the investigation from the first moments that police arrived on scene. While the investigation of Lawson’s tragic death has been scrutinized at length by community members and local media, it was the National Police Foundation’s review of the case that argued there were numerous shortcomings and mistakes made by the APD. 

Zoellner’s attorney, Elisabeth Zareh, told us there were blunders along the way to trial, and claimed that “exculpatory evidence” was withheld by the District Attorney, which should have been made available to the defense for Zoellner. “Clearly the intent is to punish Kyle Zoellner for standing up to them. This is how low your officials have gone. And then, in the middle of the trial, we learned that APD and the DA concealed their critical communications about this case from Kyle Zoellner to cover-up. I wonder how [the] public can trust APD, the chief of police and the DA’s office when they conceal records.”  

When asked what this exculpatory evidence entailed, purportedly offering some defense of Zoellner, his attorney made reference to email correspondence which was not yet made available to the defense. Zareh described to us “a key email between Arcata Police Department and Maggie Fleming” which she asserted was not made available until mid trial.  

Referencing deadlines that are standard in civil court proceedings in the context of a drawn out timeline of events, District Attorney Maggie Fleming told us, “It is my understanding the trial court found Mr. Zoellner’s attorney did not timely request records from the District Attorney’s Office. My testimony included the voluntary disclosure of an email I found in my attempt to establish the sequence of events around the time Mr. Zoellner was charged over 5 years ago.”

Offering an impassioned defense of her client to us in an email prior to the judge’s ruling on probable cause coming down, Zareh also wrote, “There is no doubt that APD’s investigation was bias[ed] toward Kyle Zoellner to frame him. They choose to ignore significant and important exculpatory evidence and excluded them in their investigation. Instead they made up false claims and facts against Kyle. It appears they framed Kyle Zoellner to cover their incompetence.” 

District Attorney Maggie Fleming responded to attorney Zareh’s claim that the case against Zeollner was trumped up by flatly refuting the concept that anything untoward had occurred in the process of deciding to charge Zoellner with Lawson’s murder.  Fleming said, “The D.A.’s Office did not frame Mr. Zoellner. We charged Mr. Zoellner when the Office reasonably believed that evidence could substantiate charges at trial.”

Summarizing her findings in the written Order, Judge Corley wrote, “Finally, in his written probable cause submission, Mr. Zoellner insists that the evidence points to suspects other than himself and, in particular, he contends that Mr. Lawson’s girlfriend, was injured by the knife believed to be the murder weapon.” The pleading continues without ambiguity, summarizing the lack of evidence that Zoellner contends would obviate the reasoning for his arrest that night. The judge’s Order as to probable cause further explains, “On the trial record, that statement is false. There is no evidence that anyone other than Mr. Lawson was injured by a knife at the party on April 15, 2017, let alone the knife thought to be the murder weapon.”

At the end of a long trial and a long day, Charmaine Lawson expressed her commitment to seek out what the justice system has long delayed, saying that she is “not giving up until justice is served.” Lawson reflected on her son, David Josiah Lawson’s legacy with fondness, saying, “[M]y son was a wonderful young man with a bright future. My son has never been in trouble with the law, my son does not know what a handcuff… feels like, he doesn’t know what the inside of a jail cell feels like. He was smart, he was kind, and he was a scholar. He was loving, and he was compassionate, and he did not…deserve to be butchered. He was stabbed in his chest almost 4 inches.That is murder. That is absolute cruelty, and that is murder, and I will never give up until his murderer is brought to justice.” 

Adding that her focus was on moving the investigation into her son’s death forward, Lawson added, “I’m not going away…so, I thank the judge for seeing the facts very clearly.”  Looking forward to a possible prosecution in the death of her son, Lawson said, “Again, the evidence was overwhelming to say the least. It was enough. you don’t need an eyewitness with evidence that was presented–DNA, bloody clothes, and a motive… ‘Why do you need an eyewitness?’ so, that would be my question to Maggie Fleming.” 

Charmaine Lawson with Chief Brian Ahearn. [Photo taken April 15, 2019 by Ryan Hutson]

The Arcata Police Department has a hotline, specifically for the Lawson case, and at the five-year mark reiterated their commitment to the case.  “Anyone with information regarding the murder of Josiah Lawson is asked to call the Arcata Police Department’s confidential tip line at (707) 825-2590 or APD Dispatch at (707) 822-2424.  Eyewitness accounts of what led up to, and including the murder of Josiah are crucial to bringing this case back to court,” wrote APD. 

To read Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s order in full, click here.

This article is written by Ryan Hutson, a local freelance journalist. Follow Ryan at Humboldt Freelance Reporting on Facebook, Insta and YouTube. To support Ryan’s award winning reporting, please consider donating here.