It was a case where the law enforcement officer refused to acknowledge fault. It was a case in the heart of red California—taking place in Kern County, tried in Fresno County—and it ended up as a powerful rebuke of police misconduct.
This week a federal jury in Fresno unanimously awarded $30.5 million to the family of Mickel Lewis, Sr., a 39-year-old unarmed Black father, who was shot and killed by Kern County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Ayala during a traffic stop on October 2, 2020. The verdict, delivered on March 19, 2025, is believed to be the second-largest jury award in California history for a police shooting case.
The jury found that Deputy Ayala used excessive and unreasonable force when he fired five shots at Lewis, striking him twice in the back, and that his actions amounted to negligence. The jury awarded $5 million for Lewis’s loss of life, $1 million for his pre-death pain and suffering, and $24.5 million in wrongful death damages to his seven children.
“I’m very pleased with the jury verdict and thankful to the jurors for giving justice and fair compensation for the family of Mickel Lewis Sr.,” said lead trial counsel Dale K. Galipo, who also secured the highest police shooting verdict in California—$33.5 million in the 2015 shooting of Nathaniel Pickett.
During trial, the evidence painted a starkly different picture than the narrative pushed by the Kern County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Ayala claimed Lewis reached under his car seat for a gun, threatened to kill him, and concealed his hand behind his back during the fatal moments. However, as co-counsel Bernard Alexander explained, “The objective witnesses said that the decedent had his hands visible where nothing was inside of his hands.”
The forensic evidence—particularly the trajectory of the bullets—further contradicted Ayala’s story. Two of the five shots struck Lewis in the back, a fact that Alexander highlighted as devastating to the deputy’s self-defense claim. “He never saw the hand. He never waited to see the hand. And he also could not explain the five bullets—why two of those bullets were to the back,” Alexander said.
Attorney Toni Jaramilla added that the entire encounter escalated in a matter of seconds. “As soon as Mr. Lewis stepped out [of the car], there were shots. Perhaps four seconds, five seconds. It was immediate.”
Lewis had initially complied during the stop, submitting to a pat-down because he was on probation. No weapons were found. However, when Ayala declared he intended to search Lewis’s car, Lewis ran but then returned to his vehicle, seemingly looking for his car keys. At that moment, Ayala opened fire.
The case’s journey to trial was itself unusual. Most cases of this magnitude end in settlements. But the Kern County Sheriff’s Department never offered a significant settlement and, according to the legal team, underestimated the power of the jury and the strength of the family’s case.
“There was never a point that a reasonable settlement offer was made. There was always an assumption that killing this citizen was of no consequence,” Alexander explained. “When you don’t value the life of everyone, the consequence is you undervalue what a jury would do.”
For Jaramilla, the refusal to settle reflected something even more disturbing: “They believed that the jury pool was going to be racist and pro-cop. That they would just believe, ‘Oh, if you’re pulling over a Black man, he must be a thug.’ But the jury saw through it.”
The diverse Fresno jury deliberated unanimously in favor of the Lewis family on all nine counts. “The jury was able to value this person,” Alexander said. “He wasn’t perfect, but the life he created for his children certainly was, in some form, perfection.”
At the heart of the case was the man lost: Mickel Lewis, Sr. His children’s emotional testimony revealed a father who was far more than the figure wrongly portrayed by the Sheriff’s Department.
“My dad was my everything,” said his son, Mickel Lewis, Jr. “He was the type of person that would stop whatever he was doing to help someone in need. If you didn’t have and he did, he would give. He was that light in the world you don’t see very often.”
His daughter, Briona Lewis, echoed that sentiment. “He had seven kids, and out of all of them, he made sure he had a great bond with each and every one of us. He was hands-on, adventurous, loving. He taught me how to be a lady, to be classy. He made sure we understood our roles in life. I’ll never forget him.”
The family endured years of pain awaiting justice. “It was rough,” Lewis, Jr., admitted. “Sitting in that courtroom, listening to Officer Ayala spread lies about my father—it hurt. There were times I had to walk out. But when the verdict came down, it lifted a weight off my shoulders. People could finally see my father wasn’t some thug—he was a human being.”
Briona added, “It was a bittersweet moment. Yes, the jury believed the truth. But that also made it so real—he was killed for no reason.”
The $30.5 million verdict sends a clear message about accountability, excessive force, and the value of Black lives—messages the attorneys and family hope will resonate far beyond the courtroom.
“This historic verdict brings a measure of justice to the family,” said Jaramilla. “It gives me back some faith in the system—that a jury can look at the evidence, listen to the children of a life lost, and understand how profound that loss is.”
Alexander added, “It is a fiction to think that race does not affect interactions with police. The law is for the people that are imperfect. That’s who Mickel Lewis Sr. was—a man with flaws but deserving of the law’s protections. The jury recognized that.”
For the family, the case was about more than money—it was about their father’s humanity. “My plan now is to raise my son and make sure he knows about the amazing person his grandfather was,” Lewis, Jr., said. “I want to spread the love my father gave to us down to my children.”
Briana shared similar hopes. “I want to do things my father would’ve been proud of. And I want my sisters to know that, yes, this is what he would’ve provided for us if they hadn’t taken him away.”
While the verdict cannot bring back their father, the family, attorneys, and supporters believe the outcome offers hope that justice is possible—even in a system often criticized for failing Black victims of police violence.
“We’re grateful this Fresno jury showed reverence for the life of Mickel Lewis Sr., a 39-year-old unarmed African American father who was shot five times, twice in the back, by a deputy sheriff who refused to account for his use of deadly force,” Alexander said. “This verdict is a loud and clear message—you cannot vilify and rush to judgment before understanding the facts.”
The case may now stand as a beacon for others seeking justice in the face of systemic bias. “This gives hope to other people that they can get justice inside the court system,” Alexander concluded.
For the Lewis family, the journey was excruciating, but the verdict affirmed what they had known all along: their father mattered, his life had value, and his death was not in vain.
How is society going to afford the astronomical verdict awards that we’re seeing today? Locally we have an example of the tree limb verdict award. I’m not saying awards shouldn’t be granted but the sums seem way over the top. Juries are giving out generational wealth in many cases. The money has to come from somewhere.
I believe there’s going to have to be legislation enacted where a formula is used in granting these awards otherwise it’s eventually going to bankrupt cities. You can’t just leave it up to the jury.
“ The money has to come from somewhere.”
Yeah it comes from risk management pools.
And who puts the money in the risk management pools?
Ultimately it comes from the taxpayers.
At this rate of excessive awards how long will those pools survive?
Be a good area of research
Keith: Maybe they pick people for juries who believe that such excessive awards won’t impact themselves. Either that, or there’s just a lot of dumb people out there – worse than I would have guessed.
By the way, I’ve read that the lawsuits against PG&E are a primary reason that utility rates have risen so dramatically. Both in terms of the actual lawsuits, and the resulting work that PG&E has to do to serve high-cost areas.
So “take that, PG&E” (woops)!