Mistrial in case of firefighter charged with beating woman feeding stray cats

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after jurors deadlocked on charges in the case of a Los Angeles city firefighter accused of assaulting a woman who was feeding stray cats.

The confrontation was captured by cameras at a community center in the city’s West Adams neighborhood.

In the video, an off-duty Ian Eulian, 38, appears to strike out at the victim, pull her out of her Jeep and shove her to the ground just after midnight Sept. 14 of last year. He then throws a punch while she is on the street. At one point Eulian’s mother is seen slapping the woman.

After a couple of days of deliberation, jurors deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of a guilty verdict on a battery charge and 6 to 6 on the assault. Although a new court date was set for Oct. 30, Greg Risling, an L.A. County district attorney’s office spokesman, said prosecutors have yet to decide whether to retry the case.

“Given the graphic and shocking video, a deadlocked jury here is somewhat of a victory,” said defense attorney Robert A. Schwartz, explaining that any retrial won’t yield any new evidence and is unlikely to change the verdict.

Jurors were also unable to reach a verdict on Eulian’s mother, Lonieta Fontaine, who was charged as an accessory.

During closing arguments last Friday, Schwartz told jurors that only one punch landed and that it followed an altercation in which the woman threatened to kill Eulian and kicked his mother. Schwartz told the jury that during an earlier court proceeding the victim had admitted to kicking Fontaine, 71.

The incident began when Eulian approached the woman, who was in her parked car, and allegedly yelled at her about feeding the stray cats. Prosecutors said the woman threw small pieces of cat kibble at Eulian to “push him back.” That’s when he punched her, they said.

During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Joshua Ritter played a clip of the surveillance footage.

“That is brutal. That is vicious. That is senseless,” he told the jury. “He was caught red-handed on videotape.”

The blow knocked the woman out, and when she woke up she told Eulian and his mother that she couldn’t remember what had happened, Ritter said. The prosecutor called the woman’s lapsed memory after the confrontation “a get out of jail free card” for the firefighter and his mother.

Ritter told the jury that the defendants didn’t realize at the time that the altercation had been recorded.

Eventually Eulian and Fontaine put the woman back into her Jeep. Fontaine drove the woman back to her home. Eulian followed in his car.

Ritter argued that a reasonable person -- and certainly someone with Eulian’s work background -- should have known to take the victim to a hospital.

“He’s a firefighter,” he said. “He should have known better.”

Schwartz also touched on his client’s occupation, but asked the jury not to let it influence their decision about whether he had committed a crime.

“He’s not charged with being a negligent firefighter in this case,” Schwartz said. “Is it his fault that he chose a profession -- one of the most noble professions someone can go into in this society?”