Former Inmate Testifies of Beating, Threats in Jail

A former Maywood jail inmate testified in Superior Court here Monday that two off-duty Orange County sheriff’s deputies and a Maywood police officer beat him into unconsciousness in a cell last year and threatened to hang him so as to make it appear he had committed suicide.

Marino D. Martillo, 30, an auto parts clerk from Huntington Park who was being held in the jail on traffic warrants and a bad check charge, said the three men rousted him from his bunk about 2 a.m. on March 23, 1990, and beat him between 30 and 40 seconds before a dispatcher interrupted them.

Martillo testified that one of the defendants, former Maywood police officer Michael A. Elliott, 31, put both hands on his neck, pinned him to the bunk, and said, “I’m going to hang you from this cell and make it look like a suicide.”

The other defendants in the trial are former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies Ivan Budiselich, 26, and John Rice. Elliott was once an Orange County deputy sheriff.

Each is charged with one count of assault under color of authority, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison; and one count of assault and battery with serious bodily injury, for which the maximum penalty is four years.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, after conducting an internal investigation of the incident, fired Budiselich and Rice. Elliott was forced to resign from the Maywood department.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey D. Oscodar, the prosecutor, alleges that Elliott, Rice and Budiselich showed up drunk at the Maywood police station after having cruised around in a chauffeur-driven limousine rented for a friend’s bachelor party.

Martillo, the prosecution’s main witness, said Monday that the beating began when three men who he thought were plainclothes officers entered the cellblock and Budiselich allegedly said, “Everybody up; this is the DA’s office. Where’s the guy with the red T-shirt?”

Earlier that night, a man in a red T-shirt had apparently become involved in a chase with another police officer. The man arrested in that incident had made accusations of police brutality and had threatened to file a citizen’s complaint.

Although Martillo was not involved in the earlier incident, he was wearing a red T-shirt and, he said, he identified himself by saying, “Here I am.”

Martillo testified that Budiselich then opened the cell door with a department key and that the three men walked in. Martillo testified that Budiselich said: “This is for trying to get us,” meaning the Maywood police, “in trouble.” Budiselich grabbed him by the neck and hit him, Martillo said.

Then, he said, Elliott hit him in the head and on his body, and Rice kicked him in the lower leg. Martillo said the beating continued until a clerk dispatcher who doubles as a jailer came in and said: “OK, you guys, get out of here. You’re going to get me in trouble.”

Martillo said he was knocked unconscious for several seconds, and that he suffered a swollen face, loss of hearing and bruises on his lower legs.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Martin Geragos questioned the cause and extent of Martillo’s injuries. Martillo said he had never been in an accident that would have caused the injuries.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Paul DePasquale, Martillo said he could not recall two convictions in the early 1980s for giving false information to police. DePasquale brought those up to challenge Martillo’s credibility.

One of Geragos’ contentions is that Elliott and the defendants are the victims of a plot by Maywood Police Sgt. Edward Robison to punish Elliott for participating in a grievance complaint against him.