Deputy Sheriff Acquitted of Assaulting Two Inmates

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was acquitted Friday of assaulting two inmates who were in his custody at the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center.

A Municipal Court jury deliberated three hours before reaching its verdict in the case against Donald K. Stegmeier, 43, of Huntington Beach.

Stegmeier was charged in January with two misdemeanor counts of assaulting or beating a prisoner in his custody and one misdemeanor count of inhumanely or oppressively treating a patient.

The prosecution alleged that Stegmeier hit inmate-patients on two occasions last October. In one incident, he was accused of slapping the bandaged neck of a patient who had suffered a near-fatal wound and was in a wheelchair.

During the four-day trial, two state parole agents and three sheriff’s deputies testified against Stegmeier, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert Lapin.

Stegmeier, who joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1984, took the stand in his own defense and two other sheriff’s deputies told the jury that they would have responded the same way he did.

He was relieved of his duties in January pending resolution of his case. Sheriff’s spokesman John Andrews said he will remain suspended while an internal investigation is conducted to see if he has violated department policies.

Stegmeier’s attorney could not be reached.