SAN DIEGO—Closing arguments will be heard today in the civil suit of Will Walters v. City of San Diego et al, following a week of testimony that included more than a dozen witnesses and the presentation of evidence including photos of women wearing more revealing swimsuits than the kilt for which the plaintiff, Will Walters, was arrested for wearing at San Diego LGBT Pride in 2011. The case, which accuses five police officers and their employer, the City of San Diego of violating Walters’ 14th Amendment right to equal enforcement of the law, is expected to go to the jury today.
Sometimes misnomered in shorthand as the “San Diego Gay Pride Kilt Case,” the lawsuit is about the constitutionally guaranteed right to equal enforcement of the law. An eight-member jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District with federal Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo presiding will decide the case. Judge Bencivengo’s decision to dismiss the case two years ago was unanimously reversed by a three-judge panel at the 9th Circuit Court of appeals; so, the case landed back in her court in March of this year.
The judge gave both attorneys wide latitude in arguing their cases this time around. However, yesterday the judge was not willing to allow the plaintiff to add a last-minute witness over defense objections, a witness Walters’ attorney, Chris Morris believed would have buttressed his argument that there was an official policy at the City of San Diego to enforce laxer standards of dress at city beaches than those at the LGBT Pride event in 2011.
Nevertheless, the plaintiff’s attorneys are confident the images and arguments they presented during the trial will convince the jury that their clients rights were willfully violated.
