A former Aurora Police officer received a sentence of 179 days of house arrest for failing to intervene when another officer beat an unarmed man unprovoked two years ago. An Arapahoe County jury convicted Francine Martinez in April of the charge, which Colorado’s legislature created in 2020.

She is the first Colorado officer convicted by a jury of the charge.

Body camera footage captured former officer John Haubert choking and beating Kyle Vinson, then 29, in the head with his gun in July 2021. The officers had responded to a trespassing call on South Parker Road. It turned out Vinson had an active warrant for an unrelated incident, but he was not armed.

Footage from Haubert’s body-worn camera shows Vinson gasping for air and struggling to speak. Near the beginning of the footage, as Vinson lies on his back, Haubert orders Vinson to get on his stomach while Vinson repeatedly asks: “What did I do?”

Haubert tells him he has an active warrant, the video shows.

Haubert tells Vinson several times to “stop fighting,” though Vinson does not appear to be resisting at that point. Haubert also presses his gun up against Vinson’s head.

In video of Martinez’ sentencing posted by Denver Gazette news partner 9News, a prosecutor criticizes her for standing by without trying to intervene. Also during the hearing, the judge said she did not believe Martinez’ conduct warranted her actually being incarcerated.

Under the law passed in 2020 that created the offense of failing to intervene in excessive force, Martinez’ conviction means Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board must permanently decertify her, and she can’t work as a law enforcement officer in Colorado again.

That law also mandated data collection by agencies on officers’ interactions with civilians and expanded requirements for when officers have to turn on their body cameras.

The Aurora Police Department fired Martinez in August 2021 based on an internal investigation’s findings. It found that she violated the department’s duty to intervene, conformance to law and performance standards.

Haubert resigned a few days after the incident. He has a trial scheduled for November on several counts:

• Attempted first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon
• Second-degree assault (strangulation)
• Felony menacing
• Official oppression
• Official misconduct
• A crime-of-violence sentence enhancer