3 Jailers Facing Murder Charges

Three Kern County detention officers face charges of second-degree murder in connection with the August beating death of a local man while in their custody. Two other jailers face charges of assault in the same incident.

Kern County Dist. Atty. Edward R. Jagels said Thursday that jailers Daniel Lindini, Ralph Contreras and Roxanne Fowler fatally punched, kicked and struck James Woodrow Moore, 30, while he was restrained with leg irons and a waist chain.

Detention officers Angel Bravo and Lisa Romero also hit Moore, but their actions did not contribute to the man’s death, Jagels said.

The incident came to light after a sheriff’s deputy, who witnessed the beating, reported it to a superior, Jagels said.

All five jailers also face charges of assault under color of authority. They are expected to be arraigned next week.

“This is a tragic but isolated incident,” Jagels said.

Lindini and Contreras were booked into the Kern County Jail on more than $1 million bail each. Jagels said Fowler had made arrangements to surrender herself to sheriff’s authorities. She is married to a sheriff’s sergeant and not considered a flight risk, he said.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Department would not comment on the case. Officials directed questions to the district attorney’s office.

Jagels said Moore, an offshore oil rig worker, was arrested Aug. 15 after he threatened to shoot his fiancee.

“The deputy who arrested him noticed he was acting in a strange manner and believed he was under the influence of methamphetamine,” Jagels said. But toxicology tests at the jail showed he was not under the influence of drugs.

Jagels said Moore, whom he described as stocky, precipitated violent confrontations with the sheriff’s deputies four times.

“We have determined that the sheriff’s deputies acted properly in all but the last of them,” Jagels said.

Officers’ attempts to subdue Moore using batons and pepper spray failed, Jagels said.

When one of the deputies secured Moore in a chokehold, he passed out. Moore regained consciousness shortly afterward, and the deputies tried to put him into a patrol car to take him to a hospital, Jagels said.

The officers finally managed to restrain Moore with a waist chain and leg irons, and tried to load him into an ambulance.

That’s when the fourth incident occurred, Jagels said.

One of the deputies repeatedly kicked Moore in the face, Jagels said. Another elbowed the restrained man in the face, while a third punched Moore’s face.

“Two other deputies struck blows, but they could not have contributed to his death,” Jagels said.

Moore died in the hospital of blunt-force head trauma Aug. 21, Jagels said.

A coroner’s autopsy ruled the death a homicide.