Former San Diego Sheriff's Deputy Gets 12 Years for Shooting Unarmed Fleeing Man

SAN DIEGO — Former San Diego County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Richard Russell received a 12-year federal prison sentence May 29 for the fatal shooting of unarmed Nicholas Bils, who was struck four times from behind while fleeing arrest.

Russell was convicted by a federal jury in March after a two-week trial and less than seven hours of deliberation. The jury determined that Russell violated Bils's civil rights by using deadly force against the 36-year-old who possessed no weapon and presented no imminent threat.

The case directly affects law-enforcement officers and the public in San Diego County, where the San Diego County Sheriff's Department employs roughly 4,000 sworn and professional staff and patrols unincorporated areas plus 18 contract cities. Bils's death occurred during an arrest attempt; four bullets struck him as he ran away.

The sentence changes the prior outcome in which Russell faced no federal penalty. He now begins a 12-year term in the Bureau of Prisons. The verdict establishes that shooting an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back constitutes a federal civil-rights violation under statutes enforced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.

Downstream, the Department of Justice has a concrete precedent for prosecuting similar excessive-force cases involving fleeing unarmed individuals. Other California law-enforcement agencies must now operate under clarified federal boundaries on when deadly force may be used against non-threatening suspects.

The ruling also requires the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to review its use-of-force training and policies to align with the standards upheld in the verdict. Federal prosecutors gain a tested pathway for bringing civil-rights charges without needing to prove the officer's subjective intent beyond the objective facts of the shooting.

This is the latest federal excessive-force conviction of a California law-enforcement officer in recent years. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California has pursued similar cases against officers for shootings of unarmed individuals, building on Department of Justice patterns established since 2014.