Conviction of Chino guards is overturned
A federal judge has overturned the convictions of three correctional officers found guilty last month of charges stemming from alleged abuse of shackled inmates at the state prison in Chino.
U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ruled Monday that jurors erred when they convicted Robert McGowan, 38, Thomas Ramos, 51, and Hector Flores, 39, of civil rights violations and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Citing a lack of evidence, attorneys for the officers had asked Real after the prosecution rested its case to dismiss the charges. The judge denied the motion but reconsidered at the end of the trial and reversed himself on the grounds that the evidence didn’t support the government’s allegations
Attorney Paul DePasquale, who is representing one of the three officers, who remain free on bail, said he was not entirely surprised by the decision.
“There are a lot of judges who might not make such a ruling,” DePasquale said. But Real “is not intimidated by what people might think. He is his own judge.”
Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A., said prosecutors were considering an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The case grew out of a May 9, 2002, melee at the Chino prison involving inmates and correctional officers.
After the fighting was quelled, several prisoners were shackled, placed in a van and sent to another unit of the prison. According to testimony, McGowan yanked two prisoners from the vehicle after it arrived at the unit and let them fall to the ground head first. Both suffered minor injuries.
Prosecutors alleged all three men lied about the incident to either superiors or a grand jury. Jurors found McGowan guilty of two counts of deprivation of rights under the color of authority and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. He faced up to 25 years in federal prison before Monday’s ruling.
Ramos and Flores were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. They each faced up to five years behind bars.
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