A San Diego police officer who was convicted of domestic battery involving his ex-girlfriend was sentenced Friday to three years of probation.
Seth Tate, 33, was arrested in March of last year and later charged in five separate incidents that allegedly occurred between Tate and the woman, who dated for a few months.
A San Diego Superior Court jury convicted Tate earlier this year of domestic battery, but also acquitted him of two other battery counts, and hung on two other domestic violence counts.
Tate had been with the San Diego Police Department for nearly three years at the time of his arrest.
Since then, Tate “has been on administrative duties with no contact with the public, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation,” a police spokesperson said Friday.
“Now that the criminal case has concluded, the department will move forward with its administrative process regarding Tate’s employment,” the statement continued.
At trial, Deputy District Attorney Carlos Campbell described Tate as “jealous,” “volatile” and “erratic” throughout the couple’s brief relationship. The prosecutor told jurors that Tate kicked the woman on one occasion and on others forcefully grabbed her by the arms, leaving bruises.
He also described another incident in which she and Tate were in an Uber and he allegedly grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into one of the car’s windows.
Tate’s defense attorney, Sean Jones, said most of the alleged incidents lacked corroborating witnesses, argued both his client and his ex-girlfriend were frequently physical with one another, and said Tate was often restraining the woman to prevent her from physically attacking him.
But Campbell alleged the woman was “not the first person he had been physically violent with.”
He said Tate pushed his fiancée while she was on a staircase, but the woman was able to catch herself before tumbling down the stairs. The prosecutor said that prompted the woman to immediately call off their engagement and contact police.
Both Tate’s ex-girlfriend and ex-fiancée testified in the trial, and Superior Court Judge Joan Weber said their accounts of Tate’s behavior were “virtually identical in the details of the jealousy, the emotional and the physical abuse” despite both women being strangers to one another.
Weber said she wouldn’t impose custody because the victim didn’t sustain serious physical injuries. Tate’s probation terms include 100 hours of volunteer work service and completion of a year-long domestic violence program.