ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – After a 44-page incident report revealed that St. Johns County Sgt. Deputy Michael Kunovich died from natural causes after a struggle with an 18-year-old Guatemalan migrant whom he was trying to detain, Vergilio Aguilar Mendez is still charged with manslaughter and has been in jail since May.
Defense attorney John Holzbaur, who is not affiliated with the case, said although Kunovich’s manner of death was natural, prosecutors will argue the video-recorded struggle with Aguilar Mendez exacerbated Kunovich’s heart condition.
“The report created an avenue to pursue that manslaughter charge,” Holzbaur said.
The newly released report says the medical examiner determined that Kunovich’s cause of death was cardiac dysrhythmia or an abnormal heartbeat.
The medical examiner also said the contributory cause of death was “physical exertion and possible emotional stress while apprehending a fleeing suspect.”
“The medical examiner determined that there was some cause or relation to the struggle which lasted some minutes – with the defendant and that was a contributing factor to the law enforcement officer’s death. So, I think that connection is going to be enough for the state to pursue those charges,” Holzbaur said.
Holzbaur answered if the manslaughter charge would stand if Aguilar Mendez didn’t take a plea deal and the case went to trial. He said a defense attorney could make a compelling argument to counter the contributing factor claim.
“It’s this completely unknown condition that was not foreseeable and certainly not reasonable for a jury to make that leap to attach culpability to the defendant,” he said.
Florida law enforcement officers are only required to undergo a medical exam before they become officers. Some agencies will require officers to pass a yearly physical agility test but don’t require officers to undergo yearly blood and stress tests to determine if their heart is strong enough for them to do their job.
“You may have touched on a good closing argument by a defense attorney,” Holzbaur said. “That, look this was something entirely unenforceable. This is so remote and attenuated from the defendant’s alleged actions that you simply can’t hold him accountable. You should go back and review the evidence and find the defendant not guilty.”
Holzbaur says if a jury does find Aguilar Mendez guilty of manslaughter, he will do some serious time in prison before he is sent back to his home country.