Three jail guards face murder trial
| Friday, Apr 21 2006 02:14 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:35 PM
Loading Stories
Advertisement
Three Kern County detention deputies will stand trial for second-degree murder in the beating death of jail inmate James Moore, a superior court judge ruled Thursday.
Kern County jail guards Daniel Thomas Lindini, Ralph Contreras and Roxanne Fowler were bound over for trial Thursday afternoon following three days of sometimes dramatic testimony during their preliminary hearing.
They will remain free on bail until the trial, scheduled for May 18.
After emphasizing that his decision was not a determination of the guilt or innocence of the defendants, Judge Jerold L. Turner ruled there was reasonable cause to believe that a murder was committed -- and that the three defendants may have committed the crime.
The three sworn officers of the Kern County Sheriff's Department also face charges of assault under color of authority for the Aug. 15 beatings that left Moore on life support until his official pronouncement of death six days later.
"I'm very happy they will go to trial," said Alicia Moore, the mother of James Moore's 13-year-old son, James Moore Jr. "Hopefully, they will be convicted of murder."
Then, crying softly, she reached out and held a silver cross hanging around her son's neck.
"You know," she said, "this is all he has left of his dad."
The families of the defendants were also present each day of the hearing. But public response to Thursday's outcome was left to the three attorneys who represented the defendants -- and all three said they were confident that no jury will convict their clients of murder.
Greg Mitts, the attorney for Lindini, took particular issue with the testimony of Dr. Debra Hanks, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Moore. While Hanks found that Moore's death was caused by blunt force trauma, she testified that the cause was "multi-factorial," that is, the result of a combination of injuries.
Mitts said when they tried to pin her down on what specific injury or injuries caused his death, she simply said there were multiple factors.
"It sounds an awful lot like, 'I don't know,'" Mitts said of Hanks' testimony.
And Bill H. Seki, the lawyer representing Contreras, noted that several times during the hearing, testimony indicated that Detention Sgt. Randy Holtz applied a carotid artery hold on Moore during one of the earlier altercations between Moore and detention deputies.
According to testimony, a carotid hold, if applied properly, can render a combative subject temporarily unconscious by squeezing the throat from behind in the "V" of one's arm. But Seki cited testimony that made it clear Moore was struggling and fell to the floor during Holtz's neck hold.
"I think he was justified in applying it," Seki said of Holtz, who is not facing charges in Moore's death. "But just the slightest movement could position the arm in the wrong place (thereby causing medical damage) ... and from what we heard today, they were rolling on the floor (in a violent struggle)."
Thursday's testimony included a revelation from Sheriff's Sgt. Martin Downs, one of the homicide detectives called to the downtown Bakersfield jail at about 11:30 p.m. the night of the alleged beatings. According to Downs, he and other detectives spent the following three or four days under the assumption that a detention deputy was the victim in the case.
"Did you or any other detective have any idea of how grave (Moore's) condition was?" Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green asked Downs.
"No," he answered.
In fact, Downs said the detectives felt somewhat "disillusioned" to be called out on a simple case of "resisting arrest."
Downs said he didn't go to the hospital to determine Moore's actual condition until three or four days after the comatose 30-year-old was taken to the hospital, where he never regained consciousness.
"On the original report written up in this case, who was written up as the victim?" Green pointedly asked Sgt. Downs.
"Daniel Lindini," he answered.
Other testimony Thursday had two female officers striking Moore in the testicles as he struggled on an ambulance gurney. Punches and baton blows to the face, head and neck were also seen by witnesses.
Sheriff's Detective Laura Lopez, the lead detective in the case, testified that defendant Contreras sent an e-mail Aug. 16 to co-defendant Lindini and Detention Deputy Jamie Tellez.
The e-mail contained a photograph of Moore, after he was beaten bloody and near death.
The message read:
"This dude got (expletive) up!"
