Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The attorney for the family of an American Samoan man, who died four years ago in downtown Honolulu, after being arrested by three Honolulu police officers, plans to appeal “for a better and just outcome” following the decision of a federal jury trial which sided with the officers.

The deceased is Sheldon Paul Haleck, son of former Police Commissioner, William Haleck, who along with Sheldon’s wife and siblings filed a civil action suit in November 2015 at the federal court in Honolulu.

Plaintiffs maintain their longstanding arguments that Sheldon “was an unarmed, defenseless man who was posing no imminent threat of harm” to the officers or to any members of the public on the evening of Mar. 16, 2015.

According to the plaintiffs, the “only disputed factual issues remaining in this case are: the causation of Sheldon’s death, i.e., to what extent the excessive use of pepper spray and the multiple uses of the Taser in dart-mode contributed to Sheldon’s death; and the valuation of the amount of damages.”

Plaintiffs allege that Haleck “was subjected to excessive force” by Honolulu police officers, Christopher Chung, Samantha Critchlow, and Stephen Kardash, who had argued, among other things, that their “actions were not the proximate cause of Haleck’s death.”

A 7-day jury trial was followed by three days of jury deliberation, which ended yesterday with a verdict. The Honolulu Star Advertiser newspaper reported yesterday afternoon that the jury found that the police officers did not use excessive force against Haleck, who died after being pepper sprayed and shot with a Taser stun gun multiple times.

Responding to Samoa News request for comments, the plaintiffs’ Honolulu attorney, Eric Seitz said, “We are disappointed but not surprised because of the unfair and biased manner in which the judge conducted the trial.” He didn’t elaborate further. According to court records, the trial was presided over by US District Court Judge Helen Gillmor.

Asked about the plaintiffs’ next course of legal action, Seitz said, “We will appeal and hope for a better and more just outcome to the [federal] Court of Appeals.”

In their civil lawsuit, the plaintiffs sought “general and punitive damages of ten million dollars and special damages in the amount of one million dollars for lost earnings and medical expenses.”

Sheldon’s death was officially ruled a “homicide” by the Honolulu medical examiner in the June 24, 2015 “Autopsy Report”, according to court records and the plaintiffs.