MIAMI (WSVN) - A former North Miami Police officer found guilty of culpable negligence after shooting an unarmed therapist in 2016 received no jail time at his sentencing, Wednesday.
Jonathan Aledda was given one year of administrative probation, 100 community service hours and ordered that he write a 2,500-word essay on the importance of communication.
Aledda stood trial in June when a jury found him guilty of culpable negligence and not guilty of two counts of attempted manslaughter.
“As a result, sir, I’m asking for your understanding,” he said at the podium. “I’m not asking for pity. I’m not asking for anything of that such. I’m just asking for understanding.”
During the sentencing, Aledda’s father, Mark Aledda, asked the judge to not destroy his son’s future.
“I would humbly request you be lenient with him and not limit his options to find new employment so that he can begin to rebuild his life again,” he said.
The June 17 decision came after a two-week-long retrial following his acquittal of a culpable negligence charge in March, during his first trial.
Aledda was fired from the department a day after the verdict was reached.
The Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association is now fighting to get him his job back in light of the sentencing.
“He shouldn’t have been fired,” PBA President Steadman Stahl said. “He was doing his job. He was being what he was trained to do. It’s hindsight that we now know three years later what led up to what happened to it.”
Aledda had previously rejected a one-year probation deal with no jail time, and Wednesday he asked the judge for more leniency.
Cellphone video taken by a bystander at the shooting showed Charles Kinsey, a behavioral therapist, lying on the ground with his hands in the air while his client with autism played with a silver toy truck.
Kinsey could be heard in the viral video saying, “All he has is a toy truck, a toy truck. I am a behavior therapist at a group home.”
“I still have metal fragments in my leg right now,” Kinsey testified.
“I feel terrible for Mr. Kinsey for the injury I caused,” Aledda said Wednesday. “That was the last intention I had that day. It was actually the opposite of what I was trying to do.”
Aledda had faced up to one year in prison.
“His conduct was gross and flagrant,” Hilton Napoleon, the victim’s attorney, said. “His course of conduct that day showed reckless disregard for human life.”
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released the following statement on Wednesday afternoon:
“Our office, in conjunction with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, made a decision to file charges against Officer Jonathan Aledda. On June 18, 2019, a jury decided that the shooting of mental health therapist Charles Kinsey was not an error or an accident but a crime, and the jury convicted Officer Aledda of Culpable Negligence. Protecting all the residents of Miami-Dade is a duty assumed by every police officer every day. Policing can be a very dangerous job. However, this case indicates our community’s belief that, on a daily basis, thought and attention should be a part of every action undertaken.”
Meanwhile, Kinsey’s client and his family have settled their case with the City of North Miami.
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