A former Antioch police officer who was found guilty in federal court has now been taken into custody, adding another serious turn to a case that has drawn attention across the Bay Area. Former K-9 officer Morteza Amiri was ordered into custody this week after a jury found him guilty of depriving a man of his civil rights and falsifying reports tied to the incident. He was acquitted on a separate conspiracy count.
The case centered on an incident in which prosecutors said Amiri illegally released his police dog on a man, then helped cover up what happened through false reporting. According to KTVU’s summary of the case, the jury returned the guilty verdict last week, and then Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ordered Amiri into federal custody on Tuesday. Until sentencing, he is expected to remain in Santa Clara County jail before eventually being transferred to federal prison.
What appears to have weighed heavily in court was not only the attack itself, but the judge’s reaction to what happened afterward. KTVU, citing the East Bay Times, reported that Judge White called attention to the “savagery of the attack” and to text messages sent afterward that were described as celebratory. According to that reporting, Amiri laughed about the victim’s pain and discussed trying to avoid ending up in court over the bite.
That detail is a big reason the story is likely to keep drawing attention. Cases involving police misconduct already bring intense scrutiny, but allegations of excessive force followed by falsified paperwork can make a verdict hit even harder in the public eye. Once a jury convicts on both civil rights and false-record counts, the story shifts from accusation to accountability, and that is usually when interest spikes again. This last point is an inference based on the charges and posture of the case.
Amiri now faces potentially serious prison time. KTVU reported that he could face up to 10 years on the deprivation-of-rights count, up to 20 years for falsification of records, and another 20 years in the fraud case. Even so, the report noted that federal sentencing guidelines make it likely he will receive a shorter term than the maximum penalties listed in court.
The decision to remand him into custody before sentencing also gives the case extra weight. That move signals the court viewed the conviction as serious enough to justify immediate detention rather than allowing him to remain free while waiting for sentencing in June. For Antioch, a city that has already seen repeated scrutiny over policing issues, the case adds to the broader damage such verdicts can do to public trust long after the underlying incident first happened. The final sentence is an inference based on the custody order and the nature of the case.
