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http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/49/cover-moxley.php Justice Takes a Beating
by R. SCOTT MOXLEY
Attorney Chris Mears
Still in pain three weeks after the July 17 incident, Greg W. Hall told OC Weekly about a Sunday evening that began auspiciously: enjoying a beer early in the afternoon and later several coffees, contemplating surfing and walking his dog at the beach. As Hall backed his SUV out of a parking space, his dog jumped in front of a side-view mirror and distracted him. He sideswiped another vehicle, causing minor damage. When police arrived, they gave Hall a field-sobriety check and two Breathalyzer tests. Crime lab records show his blood alcohol level was 0.00. Nevertheless, deputies believed Hall acted oddly. Currently on probation for an illegal prescription case in 2003, Hall told the officer at the scene about the beer and admitted that he used Paxil, an antidepressant medication. The deputy arrested him on suspicion of DUI and transported him to the Orange County Jail for a drug test. After a nurse took his blood, the arresting officer told Hall, “You’ll probably be out of here in about an hour,” and left. But a 16-hour “hellish nightmare” awaited Hall, who attended Newport Harbor High School, graduated in 1991 from UC San Diego with a degree in economics, and says he has operated several small companies. When he complained about the tightness of his handcuffs, five deputies swarmed him, yelled obscenities and attacked without legitimate provocation, Hall claims. Handcuffed and overwhelmed, his body was treated like a piñata.
“I thought they were going to kill me,” said Hall, bandaged and wearing a wrist cast. “They had no right to torture me. I was in handcuffs. I was cooperating.” At press time, the results of Hall’s drug test were not available. But medical records show that during his visit to the jail he suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a gash in his leg, an eye contusion, broken veins in his feet, a shattered front tooth, lacerations and bruises over his body, contusions to a knee, neck pain, a fractured right wrist and nerve damage to his left hand. The handcuffs were locked so tightly that the steel sliced his hands and caused dangerous swelling. An imprint of a deputy’s boot could be seen on the back of his leg for days. The beating was so severe that Hall defecated in his pants. Deputies laughed and called him a “shit monkey.” When they returned to his cell later, they cursed at him again—and tied a black mesh hood over his head. Christopher B. Mears—Hall’s attorney, a former Irvine city councilman and the current chairman of the California Athletic Commission—said deputies left his client in that condition—hooded, handcuffed behind his back, soiled in feces and bleeding—for the next 12 hours. Officers also allegedly denied Hall food and water or access to a phone to call his family. Just before his release, Hall—still handcuffed—watched a jail staffer stitch the gash in his leg without anesthesia. Dizzy, sore and nauseated, he limped out of the building wondering why. “They literally—and I mean literally—beat the shit out of him,” said Mears. “Those deputies can’t get away with this type of savage behavior against a defenseless person who is in their custody.” * * *
But law enforcement sources, defense lawyers and former inmates tell the Weekly that a minority of officers in the Orange County Jail are, as a sheriff’s department official familiar with excessive force cases described them, “pure and simple thugs who don’t have the mental or emotional makeup to wear a badge.” “Outsiders might think the department wouldn’t tolerate these bad apples,” said the official. “But they’re definitely there. They’re an embarrassment to the department. They’ve even had names, including ‘The Psycho Crew.’” In 2003, my colleague Nick Schou reported the findings of Laguna Beach lawyer Richard P. Herman, a leading critic of jailhouse abuses. Herman claimed “inmates of the Orange County Jail awaken at night to the screams of other inmates being beaten.” Orange County Register investigative reporter Aldrin Brown had previously written a series of articles describing the horrific results of the beatings in local jails: detached retinas, ruptured eardrums, shattered jaws, severed arteries, broken limbs—even death from trauma.
Nobody had a better opportunity to demand reform than federal judge Gary L. Taylor. Prompted by Herman’s class-action lawsuit, Taylor conceded in April that “there is room for improvement” inside the jail but suggested the grievances aren’t serious. He killed the suit. “Improvement is always a necessary goal,” the judge said in a 14-page ruling. “The county and the sheriff show every indication they will perform that high duty.” But Sheriff Mike Carona—who called Taylor’s ruling a “great victory”—has little incentive to clean up the county’s jail. He first won election in 1998 by telling voters that his leadership would produce a department that was a model of professionalism. Today, he thinks he’s succeeded. Through one of his spokesmen, the sheriff said he runs “one of the safest jails in America” and that “inmate welfare” is “very high on our list.” In fact, politics tops the sheriff’s list. When they’re candid, Carona’s advisers admit the sheriff won’t end jail abuses for fear of alienating the deputies’ politically powerful union. With an election year approaching and challengers such as Bill Hunt and Ralph Martin already campaigning, it’s unlikely Carona—who is seeking his third term at the $500-million-a-year agency—will enact reforms any time soon. That reality gives rogue deputies leeway to misbehave with little or no fear of punishment. Sources inside the jail say these officers often arrive at work looking for excuses to employ violence. A few don’t wait. A law enforcement source described how some of these deputies provoke violence. In one example, he said, deputies would target an inmate at random, give him jail clothing that was either too small or too large and then wait for him to complain. “When the guy complains, the deputy’s hit the jackpot,” said the official. “He wallops the living hell out of him and reports that force was necessary to end a disruption. Officially, nobody will doubt the word of a deputy.” * * * On a quiet, tree-lined Santa Ana street about 10 blocks from the jail
sits an anonymous, two-story But the Court of Appeal comprises well-connected individuals. And for those with further political ambitions, it’s unwise to take sides against law enforcement or to dig too deeply into local institutions like the jail. So it’s not surprising that Sills’ panel routinely ignores the screams of beaten suspects and inmates. What’s alarming, however, is how far that panel will go to make life more miserable for inmates, many of whom are still—nominally, at least—innocent. Just before Hall’s alleged July 17 beating, the appeals panel gave tacit support for jailhouse torture. On June 29, Justices William Rylaarsdam, Richard D. Fybel and Eileen C. Moore overturned a jury’s decision to award $177,000 in damages to Robert N. Carter, an inmate who suffered numerous injuries while in custody for possession of drug paraphernalia. Forty years old and overweight, Carter claimed that deputies refused to give him medicine for a critical heart condition, kicked him in the groin repeatedly, pepper sprayed his face, beat his ribs, broke his jaw and hog-tied him. He said he was forced to use his cell’s toilet water to rinse the pepper spray from his eyes. Deputies disputed the claims, testifying that Carter failed to comply with their commands, sought fights with officers and, on several occasions, asked to be pepper sprayed. Officers said they only reluctantly granted Carter’s wish. A jury declined to punish individual deputies but determined that Sheriff Carona and the county had violated Carter’s rights, permitted the use of excessive force and failed to adequately train or supervise jail deputies. The appeals court slammed the jury’s decision. “At most, all these incidents show are that various employees committed misconduct,” according to Rylaarsdam, who then noted that the county and Carona should not be held legally liable. The justice said he accepted the deputies’ versions as truthful, questioned Carter’s injuries and stated that there is “no evidence of widespread abuses.” Reasoned Rylaarsdam: If there were no abuses in the jail, why would the sheriff be expected to order reforms? But the most troubling ruling from the court came on June 8, when Justices Moore and Fybel joined William Bedsworth. The case was simple: Santa Ana police took Hong Cuc Truong, who’d been arrested for shoplifting in 2002, to the Orange County Jail. There, Truong—a Vietnamese immigrant diagnosed with schizophrenia—initially refused a deputy’s command to undress and take a shower before she was to be issued a jail jump suit. Truong began undressing about 10 minutes later, after another inmate convinced her it was safe to disrobe. As she pulled her sweater over her head, however, four deputies pounced, beating and kicking her and painfully twisting her arms behind her back. In the process, Truong suffered a severe arm fracture, according to records reviewed by the Weekly. Tossed in a cell, she said she was denied medical attention for hours. The appeals court ruled there had been no excessive force. Never mind that the woman was in the process of complying when the attack occurred, wrote Justice Moore: “Truong’s refusal to obey the lawful order and the events that led to her injuries are part of an unbreakable chain of events.” It was “temporal hair-splitting” to consider that the woman had “changed her mind and started to remove her sweater.” But lost in Moore’s justification was a missing explanation: Why did it take four trained deputies—using considerable violence—to handle Truong, who, at the time of the incident, was 54 years old, an inch over 5 feet tall and barely 100 pounds? 
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abuse26sep26,1,7385999.story
2 Deputies Are Indicted in Jail Beating Cases
September 26, 2003 A federal grand jury has indicted two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies for allegedly beating two jail inmates and covering up the attacks, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday. Deputy Abel Jimenez, 31, and Senior Deputy Phalance Burkhalter, 37, were accused of conspiracy and witness tampering in a seven-count indictment returned Wednesday. Jimenez faces up to 45 years in a federal prison and Burkhalter 25 years, if convicted. Jimenez, who is alleged to have committed the beatings at the sheriff's Inmate Reception Center near downtown Los Angeles, was also charged with depriving the inmates — under color of authority — of their rights. Burkhalter, a 13-year veteran, and Jimenez, a deputy for the last six years, had been on paid administrative leave for the past year and a half while an internal criminal investigation was underway. A sheriff's spokesman said they were cut from the payroll when they were indicted. Both deputies remain free pending arraignment sometime next month. "We feel confident that after all the evidence is presented, Mr. Burkhalter will be acquitted of all the charges," Vicki Podberesky, one of his defense attorneys, said Thursday. Jimenez's lawyer, Ed Rucker, declined to comment, saying he had not yet seen the indictment. According to the document, Jimenez attacked inmate Joe Mendez while on duty at the jail Nov. 28, 2001, throwing him to the floor and punching him repeatedly. Later that day, Burkhalter allegedly tried to persuade Mendez to say he had injured himself by falling out of bed. On Dec. 31, 2001, inmate Juan Barragan was beaten up in another assault by Jimenez, the indictment states, but this one was said to have been witnessed by two other sheriff's deputies. To cover up the incident, Jimenez prepared a fabricated incident report claiming that Barragan was injured during a fight with another prisoner, and Burkhalter tried to get the inmate to sign it, according to the indictment. Burkhalter was also accused of ordering stains from Barragan's blood cleaned off the jailhouse floor and arranging for the disposal of his bloodied clothing. Sheriff's officials launched an investigation that day after a County Jail nurse notified authorities that Barragan had said a deputy beat him. "Investigators were sent out that night, and they discovered physical evidence in a cell area that was consistent with the inmate's version of events," said Sheriff's Chief William J. McSweeney, who oversees internal affairs. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the evidence. During the investigation, officials also learned about the alleged assault on Mendez a month earlier. "They went back and looked at that event and were able to connect the dots," McSweeney said. When Jimenez learned that internal affairs investigators were looking into the episode, the indictment says, he telephoned the two deputies who witnessed the alleged attack and tried to get them to back up his story by lying. During the department's investigation, other deputies who were on duty during the incidents were interviewed but said they did not witness any wrongdoing. "Once this matter resolves [in court] we will definitely look at the actions of other deputies to see if there were any other department policy violations," McSweeney said. "We do have ongoing concerns about that." Though the allegations against the two deputies troubled department officials, they said they were pleased that the proper policies were in place to detect such problems. "Every bit of this investigation was conducted by the Sheriff's Department," McSweeney said. "Ideally, we are the first to discover and confirm if our deputies are involved in misconduct." Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman, said that as the internal affairs inquiry progressed, the department asked the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office to join the investigation, resulting in Wednesday's indictment.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Suit alleges 'jailhouse justice'
The soundless surveillance tape shows Orange County jail inmate Ryan Gene Epperson walking from a cell with his hands in his pockets, then standing, face-first, against a nearby wall. Moments later, an Orange County sheriff's deputy appears to kick away Epperson's left leg and delivers a closed- fist punch to the small of the inmate's back. The officers then take Epperson into a cell, out of the camera's view, where the inmate claims he was severely beaten by several deputies. Footage from the March 14, 2002, jail scuffle was made public by attorney John R. Cogorno Tuesday to illustrate what he claims was an unwarranted beating by sheriff's deputies angry over Epperson's demands that they put toilet paper in his cell. The tape was aired by several television stations Tuesday. "It was jailhouse justice," Westminster attorney John R. Cogorno said. "I think the public needs to see this tape." Two deputies involved in the case have been cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but an internal sheriff's investigation is ongoing into whether the officers violated department policy. The officers have remained on the job throughout the investigation, sheriff's officials said. "What the public is seeing in this video is only a small part of the information that is being presented in the case that is being litigated in court," said Jon Fleischman, spokesman for Sheriff Michael S. Carona. "The full story is going to be told, but it needs to be told in a court of law, not in the newspaper." Another inmate, German Torres, claims he was beaten by the same deputies moments later after he slapped at a cell window and called for officers to halt the first attack. Both men filed separate federal lawsuits in recent days accusing the county and the Sheriff's Department of violating their civil rights. In court papers, attorneys for the men allege that the beatings were committed by a rogue group of sheriff's deputies who call themselves "Untouchables." Two days before the alleged beating, Epperson, 27, had won a rare jury acquittal on a first-degree murder charge. Cogorno suggested the not-guilty verdict might have been a factor in the deputies' alleged animosity toward his client. Attorney Kent Henderson, who is representing Torres, said he has been trying to obtain similar surveillance footage involving the altercation with his client. County officials have thus far refused to release that videotape or turn over photographs taken of alleged injuries to Torres. "I want to see what is reflected as far as (Torres') injuries," Henderson said Tuesday. Hearing dates for the lawsuits have not been scheduled. A spokeswoman for District Attorney Tony Rackauckas would not comment on their decision to clear the officers of criminal wrongdoing. They also would not discuss whether the deputies gave statements to criminal investigators or invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. An FBI probe is ongoing. John Thurman, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's captain who now works as a jail-operations expert, warned against reading too much into the brief tape. "At no time do I see the deputies using any unnecessary force," he said,
explaining that without the audio, it's impossible to determine what exactly
happened. "People often see what they want to see."
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Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Former inmates allege beatings
A brutal gang of sheriff's deputies who call themselves "Untouchables" are responsible for the alleged beatings of two Orange County jail inmates last year, according to separate lawsuits filed Monday and last week. Former jail inmates Ryan Gene Epperson, 27, and German Torres, 31, suffered cuts, bruises and broken bones in the March 14, 2002, attacks outside of a holding cell at the Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana, the lawsuits state. Both men, who say they did not know each other before the assaults, echo each other's stories that Epperson was beaten after demanding that deputies put toilet paper in a cell occupied by several men. They say Torres was beaten after he slapped at the cell window and called for the deputies to halt their attack of Epperson. "They (deputies) beat the tar out of him, and they had no reason to do it," said attorney Kent Henderson, representing Torres in the civil case against the county and the Sheriff's Department. Sheriff's officials said Monday that they are conducting an internal investigation of the case but that county prosecutors informed them in December that criminal charges would not be filed against the deputies. Epperson's attorney, John R. Cogorno, said a videotape of the attack against his client clearly shows the deputies acted in a criminal manner. "The videotape of the incident is a shockingly flagrant violation of Mr. Epperson's civil rights," he said. FBI investigators also are reviewing the case to determine whether the inmates' civil rights were violated. Cogorno said his client has not been contacted by the FBI in the year since the probe began. A sheriff's spokesman would not say whether the deputies involved in
the incident are back on the job.
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DANA PARSONS
Good-Guy Sheriff Can Also End Jail Abuse
November 26, 2003 A federal appeals court last week rousted old Orange County ghosts. In ruling that a former jail inmate's lawsuit alleging abuse shouldn't have been dismissed, the court once again summoned phantoms that have been howling for years around the Central Men's Jail. The thing is, we have a resident ghostbuster. Who ya gonna call? How about Sheriff Mike Carona? If anyone could end the perennial complaints about abuse by guards, it would be Carona. About as popular as a public official can be, Carona has built goodwill all along the political spectrum and is welcomed in both the California statehouse and the White House. He's received overwhelmingly good press in his five years in office and has captured double-barreled praise for being a good administrator and a good guy. That puts a politician in position to do almost anything he wants. So, am I predicting that Carona will tackle the jail issue? Not on your life. For the record, Carona obviously wouldn't concede there's an ongoing problem of abuse. I tried to reach Carona's spokesman Tuesday for an updated assessment but didn't hear from him. Jail issues are no doubt more complicated than the complaints I've gotten from inmates over the years would suggest. It's just that they never seem to end. Some become public: In addition to the case sent back last week by the federal appeals court, there's the $650,000 settlement paid in 2002 to another inmate. And the $95,000 paid to a former inmate in 2000. And the class-action lawsuit pending against the department, alleging various civil rights violations at the jail. Richard Herman, the longtime Orange County attorney who filed the class-action suit and who has been involved in jail-related cases for more than 30 years, isn't holding his breath waiting for Carona to act. That's probably wise. Sheriffs lobbying for inmates' rights are probably about as common as Boys' Night Out at the jail. "There's just no legitimate reason for the abuse of inmates," Herman says. Carona "has decided not to take the steps necessary to clean up the jail. I don't know how or why he came to that decision. He certainly had the opportunity to clean up the jail, but he chose not to." Herman says that guards physically abuse inmates every day, basing that view largely on conversations with inmates after their release. "Not a day goes by that a guard doesn't lay hands on an inmate," Herman says, noting, however, that the complaints are confined almost entirely to the Central Men's Jail and not even fairly large branch facilities like the Musick or Lacy jails. That's because, Herman says, the central jail is the first point of contact. The mentality, he says, is that inmates need to be clued in quickly to "how the world works, and how it works is violence." No one is saying being a jail guard is pleasant duty. But everyone from Carona on down also knows how to do the job better. "They have the skills," Herman says. The jail problems long predate Carona. It's just that he offers so much promise as a leader and has the cachet to do what he wants. The mark of leadership is doing the unpopular but right thing. Mentioned as a potential candidate for bigger things, Carona has said he won't run for reelection in 2006. In short, time is tight. "Yes, it would be a great feather in his cap to clean up the jail and not make it the embarrassment it has been," Herman says. "I'm afraid this sheriff's legacy will not include cleaning up the jail, as I had hoped it would. Instead, it will be a black mark on his record." * Dana Parsons' column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times' Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.
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