Ex-U.S. Marshal Gets Federal Prison For Lying About Fatal Off-Duty Shooting
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former deputy U.S. marshal was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for lying to Los Angeles police detectives about a fatal off-duty shooting he was involved in more than seven years ago.
Matthew Itkowitz was ordered to surrender March 11 to begin serving his sentence Monday. He had been found guilty of making false statements about what happened in a Fairfax-area alley when he shot 26-year-old Ryan Gonzalez, who had intervened in a dispute between Itkowitz and his wife outside the tattoo parlor where the victim worked.
Itkowitz told homicide detectives he shot Gonzalez while being attacked. Surveillance video evidence of the March 4, 2008, incident revealed Itkowitz's account to be false.
The video showed that about a minute elapsed between the end of the men's altercation and the shooting.
"After he shot Ryan Gonzalez, the defendant tried to cover up what he had done," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Middleton told jurors. "He described a shooting that looked nothing like what you saw."
Defense attorney Chris Dybwad argued that his client's statements were the result of trauma, a shot of morphine he was given at a hospital, and a faulty memory of the night's events.
Itkowitz was found not guilty on a second obstruction count when he told his supervisor that two Latino men attacked him in the darkened alley near Melrose Avenue.
When Itkowitz completes his prison time, he will spend three years on supervised release.
A wrongful death case brought by Gonzalez's family against the federal government -- Itkowitz's employer at the time of the shooting -- is pending in federal court.
(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)