Former Merced police chief’s son-in-law takes the stand in manslaughter case
The Merced man accused of involuntary manslaughter following a deadly altercation at a comedy show in 2014 said on Wednesday he threw two punches at an advancing man.
Jesse Saucedo has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter related to a fight at Comedian Ralphie May’s performance at Merced Theatre on the night of March 21, 2014. The trial began last week before Judge Ronald W. Hansen in Merced County Superior Court.
Witnesses have described drunken fighting in the audience, bloodied faces, and at least one person was taken to the hospital. According to testimony, tempers flared after someone in Saucedo’s party asked another person behind them to quiet down.
The aisle behind Saucedo’s party held a number of friends, including 55-year-old Jack Kline, who according to testimony, was struck by Saucedo and died about three weeks later.
Saucedo, who was 36 on the night of the fight, said Wednesday in court that the older man was “towering over me” had come towards him for an unknown reason. “He got up, threw down his cane and walked over to me,” he said. “(Leaning) over the seats.”
An emergency-room nurse for a decade at the time of the fight, Saucedo was asked by prosecutors why someone would use a cane. “They need assistance,” he said. “There’s a lot of different reasons that people use canes.”
The prosecution also played the audio of an interview Saucedo gave to police over the phone on April 9, 2014, the day Kline died. In that recording, he describes Kline as “dropping” his cane.
“I don’t remember the details because we had some drinks and stuff,” he said in the audio. “I don’t even know what started the altercation. ... He just came at us so I defended myself.”
He told detectives he believed he struck Kline no more than twice and that Kline never struck him, according to the recording.
A neurosurgeon who treated Kline in 2014, Dr. William J. Myer, testified the older man’s brain showed signs of previous damage. He also said Kline had admitted to falling about a month before the fight and striking his head on the ground.
The doctor also said Kline had had four surgeries on his heart.
Police have previously said Kline acknowledged there had been a fight, and said Saucedo had struck him six times. An ambulance arrived and treated Kline’s wife for a cut to her face, but Kline was not taken to the hospital by emergency responders.
Saucedo is the son-in-law of former Merced Police Chief Norman Andrade, who was the chief at the time of the incident. His department also led the investigation. Police have said Andrade removed himself from the investigation and did not participate in or oversee any of the personnel involved.
When asked whether Merced police considered handing the investigation to another agency due to the defendant’s ties to the police chief, investigators said the department did not feel there was a conflict of interest in investigating the matter.
Andrade was in the courtroom on Wednesday. Testimony resumes Thursday, according to court records.
This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 4:48 PM.