Voice of San Diego Morning Report: Judge Slams Cop Version of Killing
By Seth Hall on May 05, 2015 05:00 am

In the waking hours of June 4, 2012, Victor Ortega was being urged out of bed by his wife. Soon after rising, Ortega would be dead, shot twice by a police officer who claimed he feared for his life. In a special investigation for Voice of San Diego, Kelly Davis peers back at the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Ortega almost three years past, and compares them to contested claims made in a lawsuit against the officer, Jonathan McCarthy.

The judge in the case recently questioned whether “it would be possible for McCarthy to have done everything he said he did during his altercation with Ortega,” Davis reports. Ortega’s widow filed a lawsuit and that’s why we have unique access to documents and testimony that often is sealed.

The city’s lawyers sought to have the entire case dismissed early in the trial, but the judge refused. “Plaintiffs have submitted evidence that would give a reasonable jury pause,” the judge determined. McCarthy remains an SDPD officer and is on active duty.