Springfield police officer Jose Diaz backs out of guilty plea in Nathan Bills case

SPRINGFIELD Suspended Police Officer Jose Diaz on Monday pulled the chute on a guilty plea in the long-running Nathan Bills assault case at the last second in Hampden Superior Court.

Diaz acquitted in May of assault charges associated with a 2015 altercation between off-duty officers and four Black civilians was poised to admit to a felony charge of misleading an investigator. Assistant attorneys general lobbied for Diaz to plead guilty and receive two years of probation, while defense lawyer Jeremy B. Powers planned to argue to a finding of pleading to facts sufficient and a dismissal of the case after four months.

The dispute became moot, however, when Diaz bailed out of the plea minutes before Judge Michael K. Callan took to the bench Monday afternoon.

There was a wrinkle, Powers told Callan. My client was prepared to offer a plea until 10 minutes ago.

The deal was derailed over concerns Diaz, 57, had about keeping his pension and recouping back pay, Powers said.

A lot of people were offering conflicting information, Powers said outside the courtroom after the plea unraveled. And this has been his whole life.

Powers and Assistant Attorney General Stephen Carley instead agreed on a jury-waived trial that begins Jan. 9. Powers estimated the trial may last up to two weeks.

Diaz, a 25-year veteran of the police force, was charged in 2019 along with more than a dozen other officers in the case and two owners of the popular East Forest Park bar where the friction between the groups began.

Because of the sheer volume of defendants, another superior court judge separated them into an assault group and a cover-up group the latter comprised primarily of on-duty officers investigators alleged to have tried to conceal the fight from superiors within the department, and later from the FBI.

Diaz was one of the few who straddled both groups. So, while he was was acquitted of assault earlier this year, he still faces a single count of misleading an internal investigations officer nearly seven years ago.

Including Diazs acquittal in May, six officers have been cleared by juries or a judge and several more defendants were shed through alternate legal proceedings and motions.

FBI agents and prosecutors have portrayed the case as a crowd of drunken, bully cops preying on four Black men when they clashed outside the bar. It conflicts with defense lawyers depiction as a boys will be boys bar fight that started over a wolf whistle.

Two officers convicted in March of misdemeanor assault, Christian Cicero and Daniel Billingsley, were sentenced to suspended jail terms and probation. The two were recently reinstated to their jobs by a 2-1 vote of members of the Board of Police Commissioners.

The outcome raised the ire of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who said he was dismayed by the vote and intended to review the legality of the decision.