The Fresno Bee 
Inmate testifies about Corcoran prison rape 
Wayne Robertson says he spoke with a Corcoran guard before Eddie Dillard was moved to his cell. 

By Lewis Griswold
The Fresno Bee 
(Published October 19, 1999) 

Four Corcoran State Prison guards wanted inmate Eddie Dillard to learn a lesson when they placed him in a cell with Wayne Robertson, an inmate known to rape his cellmates, Robertson testified Monday. 

Intense and articulate, Robertson, 42, told the jury of eight men and four women in a Kings County courtroom that the guards who put Dillard, 23, into his cell knew better. 

"He was my enemy," said Robertson, 6 feet 2 inches tall and 220 pounds. "They knew if they put him in there something would happen to him." 

Robertson, also known as the "Booty Bandit," testified that he spoke with Sgt. Robert Allan Decker two days before Dillard, who weighed 118 pounds, was moved into the cell. 

Decker told him Dillard "needs to learn to do his time," Robertson said. "About two days later, the cellie I had was moved out and Dillard moved in." That was March 5, 1993, a Friday. 

The following day, Robertson said he kicked Dillard in the chest and knocked the wind out of him. Dillard "hollered for staff," Robertson said, "but no one came." 

"I sodomized him all night," said Robertson, who was chained to the witness stand. He had a nearly shaved head and a thin braided ponytail. 

The four officers accused of setting up Dillard's rape are Decker, Sgt. Dale Brakebill and correctional officers Anthony Sylva and Joe Sanchez. 

The State Attorney General's Office, which is prosecuting the case, is attempting to show that Decker and the others purposely put Dillard in the cell to punish him for striking a female guard at 
another prison. 

Decker's lawyer, Curtis Sisk, has said Decker was not at work the day Dillard was moved. 
After Dillard was brought to Robertson's cell, he banged on the door and told two officers, including former officer Roscoe Pondexter, his life was in danger. 

"Pondexter started laughing like it was some kind of joke," Robertson said. "They walked away." 
Pondexter, who is immune from prosecution, has testified against the four guards. 

The assault occurred over two nights, during which time, the guards didn't let the two out into the exercise yard, Robertson said. The day after the second sexual assault, Dillard ran from the cell when the door was opened and refused to return. 

On cross-examination, defense lawyer Gerald Lewis, representing Sylva, asked Robertson whether there was a "dispute" between Dillard and the guards putting him in the cell. Robertson said no. And defense lawyer Katharine Hart asked Robertson whether he was "the Booty Bandit." 

"That's another label you guys placed on me," Robertson said. "That's the term I read in the paper." 
About halfway through his testimony, Robertson balked at being a witness, saying he was being "retaliated against" by the State Department of Corrections. 

During the break, Assistant Attorney General Vernon Pierson spoke with Robertson and promised he would personally get assurances of protection from Department of Corrections Director Cal Terhune in Sacramento. 

Robertson is doing life without parole and is housed at the maximum-security housing unit at Pelican Bay State Prison. 

Guard Testifies About Inmate's Rapes

Says He Feels No Compassion for Victim

Oct. 15, 1999

HANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- A former prison guard nicknamed "Bonecrusher" testified Thursday that he feels no compassion for an inmate who was repeatedly raped by a known sexual predator.

Roscoe Pondexter told jurors in the trial of four Corcoran State Prison guards accused of setting up the rape that inmate Eddie Dillard was of little consequence to him at the time.

Pondexter, testifying for the prosecution under a grant of immunity, has repeatedly said that his fellow officers knew they were endangering the 23-year-old Dillard when they left him in a cell with Wayne Robertson.

'It doesn't matter to me'

Prosecutors say the guards did it to punish Dillard for kicking a female guard.

"If you thought Eddie Dillard was in peril, wouldn't you do something to see he was released from the cell with Robertson?" asked defense lawyer Katherine Heart during the second day of Pondexter's cross-examination. 

"Probably not," said Pondexter after a long silence. "If he comes up to me and says, 'I'm being raped,' or 'I'm being physically assaulted,' I would act on that.

"But I have no compassion for Eddie Dillard, so it doesn't matter to me that he's feeling all these things," he said.

Pondexter said it was his job to teach newly arrived inmates that Corcoran State Prison was a place where the guards were in charge and wouldn't hesitate to use violence to maintain order.

Used excessive force

Pondexter was fired from his job as a Corcoran guard after being accused of using excessive force on inmates -- a practice that earned him the nickname "Bonecrusher."

"I think he's angry at his employer and that's part of his impetus to this," said defense lawyer Curtis Sisk during a break in the trial.

After two failed state investigations, Pondexter broke ranks and supported Dillard's account in testimony to a special grand jury, which indicted the guards last year on charges of aiding and abetting the rape.

Robert Decker, Dale Brakebill, Anthony Sylva and Joe Sanchez face up to nine years in prison if convicted.

Corcoran Rapist Marked for Death at Pelican Bay, Tom Hayden Says
Inmate allegedly was told to attack by prison guards

Pamela J. Podger, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, August 20, 1998

A burly inmate who was allegedly used by guards at Corcoran State Prison to rape and beat other inmates has been placed where he could suffer brutal retaliation, a state senator said yesterday. 

Wayne Jerome Robertson, nicknamed the ``Booty Bandit'' for his history of prison rapes, has been cleared for placement in the general population at Pelican Bay State Prison near Crescent City. 
``It is almost certain that he would be targeted for death,'' said Senator Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, a vocal critic of the Department of Corrections. 

``He is sorry sack of s--, but you don't use him to rape a bunch of prisoners and then throw him out on the yard to be slaughtered,'' Hayden said. ``I just think if safety in prisons means anything, Robertson must be isolated or steps have to be taken to prevent a predictable act of revenge.'' 
The situation is so laden with potential disaster, Hayden said, it raises questions of whether the prison system is trying to silence Robertson. 

Robertson's alleged cell-block crimes are a key element of what state and federal investigators are probing. Whistle blowers claim that Corcoran guards set up inmate fights, condoned violence, mistreated problem inmates and then conspired to cover up the incidents. Guards at Corcoran, which opened in 1988, have so far wounded 43 inmates and killed seven. 

Hayden said he fears that Robertson, who was moved to Pelican Bay a year ago, may be in jeopardy from the inmate culture of revenge. In testimony before a joint legislative hearing in Sacramento, investigators said the 230-pound Robertson was given extra sack lunches and tennis shoes for meting out punishment at the behest of guards at the maximum-security prison, which is located in the San Joaquin Valley. 

State corrections investigator John Harrison told lawmakers he heard of a coverup attempt by Corcoran staff members, who condoned Robertson's repeated rapes of Eddie Dillard, a 120-pound, first- time convict. The state attorney general is conducting a criminal investigation into the rapes. 
Hayden questioned yesterday why Robinson was cleared for the main line at Pelican Bay by prison officials. 

``Was this just an administrative mistake?'' Hayden asked. ``Is he disposable? 

I'm reminded of all kinds of cases, especially in foreign policy, where officials utilize some lowlife guy for a squalid mission and then dump him. 

``The public should be aware that this man was encouraged by some guards to beat and rape other prisoners. Robertson is a cog in a machine, a disposable part of this process of cruel and unusual punishment inside the prisons. 

Secondly, he is a potential witness . . . and if he is dead, his testimony dies with him.'' 
The senator told Department of Corrections Director Cal Terhune of his concerns 
about Robertson on Tuesday, during the fifth day of joint legislative hearings into crimes at Corcoran. 

Asked whether he was aware of Robertson's placement in the general population, where he will have contact with other inmates, Terhune told a reporter that he did not know about it. 

``No, I hadn't known about that,'' Terhune said. ``But believe me, he can take care of himself.'' 
Tip Kindel, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said Terhune promised yesterday to look into Robertson's placement, either at Pelican Bay or at another state prison. 

Robertson, a convicted murderer, is serving a life term without possibility of parole. He has been in prison since 1961. 

©1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A24