Suspect in Witness’ Death Roamed Jail for Hours

A 20-year-old inmate on trial for murder slipped out of his cell in the Men’s Central Jail and wandered undetected for hours, finally making his way into the cell holding the chief witness against him and strangling the man in the presence of cellmates, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday.

The suspected killer, Santiago Pineda, allegedly ordered witnesses to turn around as he used a ligature to choke Raul Tinajero while the Wilmington man slept on his cot. Then Pineda wrote down the names and booking numbers of the other inmates and told them he would exact revenge if they talked, Baca said.

Tinajero’s body was in the cell four hours before one of the inmates called his attorney, who alerted jailers. Pineda was charged Tuesday with Tinajero’s murder and is eligible for the death penalty. He is scheduled to be arraigned June 1.

“This was complete ineptness, or collusion,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who along with the rest of the board was given details of the case Tuesday. “This is a breakdown that has to be corrected immediately.”

The killing drew wide attention after Baca apologized last month in The Times for failing to protect Tinajero. A judge in March ordered the Sheriff’s Department to keep Tinajero safe during Pineda’s murder trial. Tinajero, 20, testified last month that he saw Pineda, a neighbor, drive his car over another man last year.

The Board of Supervisors called for a grand jury investigation Tuesday and agreed to have Merrick Bobb, a special counsel to the board, undertake an independent review of the Tinajero killing, as well as previous jail slayings.

Bobb warned in a report released in September that deputies were given inadequate training in the use of force, leaving them vulnerable and unable to control violent inmates. The review found that deputies frequently began work in the jails before receiving formal training.

One source present at the board’s closed-door briefing on the case Tuesday said supervisors were concerned about “the entire custody division and whether the killings were symptoms of a much deeper problem.”

Silvia Tinajero said in an interview that her son had told her by telephone days before his death: “Mom, I’m afraid. They’re going to kill me, Mom, ‘cause I went to court.” She has filed a claim against the county, alleging negligence and wrongful death.

On Tuesday, Baca repeated his apologies.

“We didn’t do our job, and I’m using that word inclusively,” said Baca, who is responsible for the custody of about 18,000 inmates in the county jail system. “There’s no way to mitigate our responsibility as I see it. We can explain human error and I suspect that’s a part of it.”

Three separate investigations by the Sheriff’s Department are underway. The Sheriff’s Department administrator in charge of the Men’s Central Jail had said he never received a special protection order for Tinajero.

In an interview, Baca explained how Pineda was able to penetrate security barriers at the Men’s Central Jail, which holds about 7,000 inmates in downtown Los Angeles.

At 5:12 a.m. on April 20, Pineda used a court pass belonging to another inmate to leave his cellblock and join a line of other inmates preparing to go to court. Pineda was eventually discovered and ordered back to his cell.

Inexplicably, Baca said, Pineda was able to roam the sprawling facility for five hours. He found the cellblock where Tinajero was being kept, Baca said, either through the jail’s automated telephone service or, with the help of someone outside the jail, through the inmate locator on the sheriff’s website.

About 10 a.m., as an inmate was entering Tinajero’s cell, the 2200 module, Pineda saw his chance, Baca said. Pineda followed the inmate into the cell.

Once inside, Pineda told inmates that he was a “floor sleeper,” an extra prisoner assigned to sleep on the floor because of jail overcrowding, Baca said.

Minutes later, Pineda told the cellmates not to watch as he began strangling Tinajero.

“They were told to face away from him as he committed the murder and they complied,” Baca said. “Once he was done, he took the names from their wristbands and told them if they said anything, he would exact revenge on them.”

Pineda waited in the cell until about 2:20 p.m. when one of the inmates was authorized to leave for class, Baca said. Pineda followed the inmate out.

It was unclear whether any guard watched the inmates enter or leave Tinajero’s cell or realized that Pineda should not have been there.

Baca said his staff violated four separate jail policies.

Pineda “should have never left his cell at 5:20 a.m., which started the chain of events,” Baca said. “He should have never been in the court line. And once he was discovered in an unauthorized area, he should have never been allowed to roam back to his cell.

“He should have never been able to enter ... where the victim was residing and once there he should have never been allowed to leave,” Baca said.

Prosecutors were concerned in March that Tinajero would be in danger for cooperating with authorities in the case against Pineda, a suspected gang member. On March 10, Tinajero, who was serving a prison sentence for car theft, was ordered by the court to testify. Ten days later, a judge ordered the Sheriff’s Department to keep him in protective custody, according to court documents.

On April 1, Long Beach police transferred Tinajero to the Men’s Central Jail from North Kern State Prison.

During the trial, Tinajero testified that he saw Pineda choke Rafael Sanchez while the three men were in a car, then throw Sanchez out the door and run him over with the car, according to sheriff’s homicide investigators and court documents. A mistrial was declared April 12 when Pineda’s attorney became ill. A new trial was scheduled to begin May 19, with Tinajero as the star witness.

Supervisors said they were worried about a pattern of killings in County Jail, citing Tinajero as well as three inmates killed in December.

“If he was under protective custody or not, there is no excuse for an inmate to be murdered at any time,” Antonovich said.