Jackson v. County of Los Angeles

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff-Appellant Derrick Jackson brought this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 , 1985(3), alleging that three Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs violated his civil rights by assaulting him by means of a trained police dog and by beating him. After a two-week jury trial, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law for the defendants on Jackson’s § 1985 conspiracy claim, and the jury returned a verdict for the defendants on the § 1983 claim. Jackson now appeals several of the magistrate judge’s rulings made before or at trial, 1 as well as the grant of judgment as a matter of law on the conspiracy claim. He also asks that the jury verdict be set aside. We affirm.

Evidentiary Rulings

Jackson appeals several evidentiary decisions that the magistrate judge made before and during the course of the trial. A district court’s evidentiary rulings are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. See Heyne v. Caruso, 69 F.3d 1475, 1478 (9th Cir.1995). Even if a district court has abused its discretion in including or excluding evidence, that error will require reversal only if it is prejudicial; that is, reversal is warranted only if it is more probable than not that the jury’s…