Silence fell onto a small courtroom in Orchard Park late Friday as a jury rendered a rare guilty verdict against a sworn police officer, convicting an Erie County sheriff's deputy on three of the four counts against him.
Kenneth Achtyl, who bloodied the face of a Buffalo Bills fan, broke his nose and inflicted a concussion, was found guilty of reckless assault, official misconduct and falsifying business records for sanitizing a departmental report on his use of force.
Achtyl had faced a fourth misdemeanor, intentional assault. But the judge in the trial told jurors they could legally convict the deputy of reckless assault or intentional assault but not both.
With defense lawyer Rodney Personius, Achtyl hurried away from reporters hoping for comment. He could face up to two years in jail, according to prosecutors, though it's unlikely the judge would apply that sentence to someone with no prior criminal record. Achtyl can remain free until his sentencing at 5 p.m. on Jan. 23.
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Sheriff Timothy B. Howard, who sat and watched most of the trial this week, said he was surprised by the verdict. Howard will make the final decision for the Sheriff's Office on whether Achtyl works again as a deputy. He remains suspended without pay.
Still, as Erie County prosecutors unveiled document after document showing that Achtyl created a false narrative to support charges against the Bills fan, Howard continued to support his deputy. In uniform this week, he would confer with the defense team and share conversations with Achtyl and his family as part of large contingent of deputies backing up their colleague.
In fact, Howard later criticized the District Attorney's Office for allowing the body camera video that was central to the case to become public without first consulting the Sheriff's Office.
“The concern I’ve had since the beginning," Howard said, "is the body camera footage would be released prematurely and without faithful explanation of what was happening in the background.”
The body camera video was unearthed through a Freedom of Information request to the District Attorney's Office, said Aaron Glazer, a Buffalo attorney who prepared a civil lawsuit against Erie County on behalf of the Bills fan Achtyl clubbed with his police baton, University at Buffalo student Nicholas Belsito.
"This is information that is compelled to be provided under the law," Glazer said. "To suggest otherwise is incorrect."
As for Belsito, he endured some five hours of cross-examination by Personius as the defense attorney sought to impeach his credibility and blame him for Achtyl's use of force. Belsito was in the courtroom with his father when a jury forewoman read off the verdicts.
"This was an extremely emotional week," Belsito told The News. But with the outcome, "it was an extremely satisfying week," he said.
The body camera video had led county prosecutors to drop all of the charges that Achtyl and his partner, James Flowers, wrote out against Belsito when he was arrested during a tailgating party outside New Era Stadium on Dec. 3, 2017 — obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.
Prosecutors saw that Belsito had not fought with the deputy, as Achtyl claimed. He merely went to the window of a patrol car to ask the deputy where his friend, who had been arrested minutes earlier, was being taken, so Belsito could go retrieve him when freed.
But despite a Sheriff's Office policy telling deputies to treat the public with courtesy, Belsito repeatedly told Belsito to beat it. Though Achtyl eventually said the friend was going to "10 Delaware" — the address of the Erie County Holding Center — another "beat it" followed.
A frustrated Belsito said "thank you" and turned to walk away. Then he wheeled and said: "Beat it? You're a (expletive) cop." Belsito testified that he had the right to ask his simple question and get an answer.
Once cursed at, Achtyl bolted from the car and took his police baton to Belsito's throat and his nose. He and Flowers took him to the ground and clicked on the handcuffs. By the time they got him upright again, his face was caked with blood and gravel.
After The Buffalo News publicized the video late in 2018, District Attorney John J. Flynn said he would look at the case and determine whether to charge Achtyl. The DA announced the four misdemeanor charges against Achtyl in May.
“I need to prosecute anyone, anyone who commits a crime,” Flynn said at a news conference Friday, after two of his assistants, prosecutors James M. Marra and Gary M. Ertel, secured the guilty verdicts.
Flynn told reporters that he disagreed with Howard's criticism that his office should not have released the video. The DA said his staff gave it to a lawyer for the Belsito family, not the news media.
And he disagreed with Howard's criticism that prosecutors should not have dropped charges against Belsito without consulting with the Sheriff's Office first.
“The decision is not up to Howard. It’s up to me,” Flynn said
Because of the respect many citizens give to police, it has been rare, at least in Erie County, to find a jury willing to convict a police officer. In some other cases of brutality, even those caught on video, officers have been cleared.
"I can't remember the last time a police officer was convicted by a jury," Flynn said.
"If you are Joe Citizen Juror, you are initially going to give them the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
