standing up to corruption by stephen james - sacramento news and review cover story - stephen james...

8/12/2019 Standing Up to Corruption by Stephen James - Sacramento News and Review Cover Story - Stephen James Investigative Journalism and Photography - Reporter Stephen Jame…

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/standing-up-to-corruption-by-stephen-james-sacramento-news-and-review-cover 1/4

t nding uptanding up

GITMO

GOOD See Bites, pag

GRIT. SHIP-HOSee Film, page

AY YISEX W



silence with loyalty and integrityand who have the strength of char-acter to withstand the criticism andaccept the personal risks associatedwith their decision,” explained asso-ciation executive director RichGregson.

Two months ago at a ceremonyin Indian Wells, the award was pre-sented to Reynoso by CaliforniaAttorney General Bill Lockyer.“The recognition that I got from theother law-enforcement people thatwere in the room validated mywork,” he said. After he receivedthe award, some of theother law-enforce-ment officers inattendance cameup to him andoffered him encour-agement andsupport. “They said,‘Congratulations ona tough job,’‘Notenough people dowhat you did.Congratulations for sticking it out,’” herecalled.

The peer reinforce-ment meant a lot toReynoso because hisown employer essentially ignoredhis achievement in the successfulPowers-Garcia prosecution and hisreceipt of the ethical-courage award.Even though a letter announcingReynoso’s award was sent toCalifornia corrections czar RodHickman, “all I got from my owndepartment was ‘Oh, you pissed off a lot of people. Man is your career over,’” he said. Acall to CDCspokesman J.P. Tremblay confirmed

Reynoso’s frustration regardingrecognition: Tremblay was unawarethat Reynoso had receivedthe award.

Reynoso barely had time to savor the moment of honor because he wasworking up to 12 hours a day to helpthe government prepare for a newfederal criminal trial against another Pelican Bay prison guard, DaveLewis. Reynoso had worked thecase, off and on, for more than 10years, and the trial would be the finalshowdown from the Powers-Garciaera. Like Santa Barbara CountyDistrict Attorney Tom Sneddon’sunrelenting 10-plus-year pursuit of Michael Jackson, Reynoso had apiece of his psyche in this battle. Butunlike what happened with Jackson,who escaped Sneddon’s grasp in anearlier alleged child-molestation inci-dent by paying off the victim,Reynoso had helped the feds putLewis away once before, only to seehis conviction reversed on appeal

and a new trial ordered. Reynoso hada huge investment of pride and emo-tion in the case and viewed itsanticipated outcome as the final vin-dication of the years of sacrifice thathad irreversibly altered his life.

The case was expected to be dif-ficult to prosecute because some of the witness challenges from the firsttrial and the Powers-Garcia casewere expected to occur in the Lewisretrial. “The witnesses are veryreluctant to take the stand again for us,” Reynoso said.

In her letter, Haag recited some of the witness-intimidation problems

from the Powers-Garcia prosecution,including a Pelican Bay female staff member who had human feces spreadon her car in the prison parking lot.Another witness, who had critical evi-dence proving that the defendantswere involved in having an inmatestabbed, had to take a stress retire-ment. “One staff witness literallybegged us in the hallway outside of court not to ask him to go throughwith testifying—he was happy in hiscurrent assignment, his children were

happy in their schools, and he wascertain he would have to move if hewent through with testifying,” andprosecutors honored his request. Inaddition, inmate witnesses faced thepossibility of retaliation by staff andprison gangs. Haag said Reynoso hadthe unique ability to work with andreassure both employee and inmatewitnesses because he understood theprison culture.

The final prosecution of Lewiswould be a pivotal point in the ongo-ing struggle between the handful of CDC employees, like Reynoso, will-ing to stand up to the corruption,endure the retaliation that was guar-anteed to follow, and weather it allwith virtually no support from thehigher-ups at the CDC. Reynoso alsostood up to the money and power of the prison-guard union. And, for aprosecutor, the landscape was litteredwith those who had sought justicebut had failed to bring back the cov-eted criminal conviction, the onlymeasure of success.

After three years of false startsand delays, the second Lewis trialfinally went before a San Francisco

jury last month. But the outcomewould leave a permanent scar onReynoso’s soul.

About a year before Reynoso wasforced to move from his NorthernCalifornia home, the state’s prison-guard union, the CaliforniaCorrectional Peace OfficersAssociation (CCPOA), held its 25thannual convention in Sparks, Nev.Taking place just two weeks after

the September 11World Trade Center attacks in 2001, theevent had the theme“Of heroes and heal-ing,” according to adetailed post-con-vention report, with26 color photos, inthe union’s in-house magazine,Peacekeeper.

The conven-tion plannersdrew a connec-tion between thefirefighters and

police officerskilled in t he World Trade Center disaster and the brotherhood of

California prison guards. “Twoweeks following the tragedies of September 11, where the professionsof law enforcement and fire andrescue lost so many of their owntrying to save the doomed souls inthe World Trade Center, CCPOA’sannual convention was marked bythe shocked and sad faces of abrethren of peace officers mourningthe loss of their brothers and sisters3,000 miles away,” reportedPeacekeeper. The convention floor

featured a replica of theStatue of Liberty, and aphotomontage presenta-tion of the terroristattacks “stunned andhushed the crowd” andthen “brought the dele-gation to its feetchanting USA,USA, USA.”

Alive and in-person hero highlightof the convention,attended by morethan 1,000 unionmembers and their families, was the tri-umphant return of former PelicanBay prison guard Dave Lewis. Justweeks before the convention, Lewishad been released after serving 15months in federal prison for the 1994nonfatal shooting of inmate HarryLong after an altercation in theprison yard. In 1999, the governmentindicted Lewis, claiming that hedeliberately shot Long because hebelieved Long was a child molester.

In early 2000, Lewis was convictedand then sentenced to more thanseven years in prison and fined$2,000, but then he was releasedpending the outcome of a retrialordered by the appellate court. At theconvention, Lewis took the stageagainst a dramatic backdrop—deco-rated in a red, white and bluestar-spangled theme that might havemade Leni Riefenstahl blush—andrecounted his ordeal to the audience.“On his conclusion, his peers gavethis hero a standing ovation,” saidPeacekeeper in its account of themoment.

Reynoso, who used to be amember of the CCPOA, is disturbedby the union’s promotion of Lewis.“It’s a disgrace to think that youhave an employee who you’re prop-ping up as a hero, compared to a lotof people who do a great job andshould be heroes—people who dotheir job everyday and don’t get inany trouble and finish their careers,”he said.

Indeed, to an outside observer,the elevation of Lewis to hero statusby the CCPOAmight seem puz-zling. In 1996, two years after hehad shot Long but when he had yetto be indicted by the federal govern-ment, Lewis was still working atPelican Bay when he was fired bythe state for an assortment of mis-conduct unrelated to the Longincident. According to StatePersonnel Board (SPB) and courtrecords, Lewis was canned for inex-cusable neglect of duty,discourteous treatment of the publicor other employees, willful disobe-dience, and other failure of goodbehavior that caused discredit to theCDC. Among other employee ruleand regulation violations, Lewis“routinely referred to black inmates

as ‘primates,’‘monkeys,’‘toads,’

and ‘niggers’” and also was accusedof demeaning actions toward sexoffenders, including referring tochild molesters as “Chesters,”according to the records.

The nine-year veteran also wasfound to be dishonest because hegave false statements during theinvestigation of his misconduct. Histermination was affirmed by an SPBadministrative-law judge who alsonoted that “the likelihood of recur-rence is significant given [Lewis’]dishonesty at the investigation of the incident, continued denial of wrongdoing at the [SPB] hearing,and his apparent lack of remorse.”(Lewis did not respond to severalinterview requests relayed throughhis attorney and the union.)

“And here you’re holding up aguy as your hero who was fired bythe department for misconduct andracism and other stuff, and shot aguy. I mean it’s a disgrace to whatCCPOAclai ms they stand for, work-ing ‘the toughest beat in the state.’It’s incredible,” Reynoso said.

But what was apparently moreimportant to the union officials andconvention delegates was thatLewis had beaten the federal gov-ernment’s case against him, at leastfor the time being. The subject of Lewis’return and retrial was thecover story in the next issue of Peacekeeper (January/February2002). The article, “Miscarriage of Justice—Aformer correctionalpeace officer is forced to relive anightmare as he prepares for aretrial,” detailed a litany of allegedgovernment misconduct fromLewis’first trial and implied thatLewis was the victim of a conspir-acy between CDC internal-affairsinvestigators, including Reynoso,and the feds.

“Yes, there does seem to be aconspiracy afoot,” surmised thestory. The article also said that

Lewis and his new andimproved legal team,which includednationally renownedSan Francisco crimi-nal-defense attorneyDennis Riordan, wereanxious to get the retrialstarted. Although Lewisinitially refused to waivehis right to a speedy trial,the proceeding was in factdelayed for more thanthree years. At the end of last month, the day of reck-oning finally had arrived.Surrounded by his high-

priced legal team and a smallentourage of CCPOAofficials,Lewis walked into a federal court-room in San Francisco andconfronted the nightmare.

26 | SN&R | JULY 21 ,2005 INSIDE | OPINION | NEWS | COVERSTORY | ARTS&CULTURE | FILM | THEATER | DISH | WORDS | NIGHT&DAY | MUSIC |

When the United States of Americav. David Gene Lewis criminal trialbegan on June 27, both sides hadpride and ego at stake, as well as asizeable financial investment in thecase. Reynoso estimates that theCCPOAhad gambled well morethan a million dollars of its mem-bers’money to defend Lewis(CCPOAVice President LanceCorcoran declined to estimate whatthe union had spent on the case). Itwas a gamble because, under theterms of the union’s contract withthe state, if Lewis was found notguilty, the taxpayers of Californiawould have to pay Lewis’attorneyfees and all related costs of hisdefense. If they lost, the guardsunion would eat the sizeable invest-ment, which dumbfounded Reynoso.“Because they’ve held this guy up astheir hero, they’re willing to go tothe mat for him,” he said.

The federal government undoubt-edly had spent even more. At leasttwo FBI agents, prosecutors and sup-port staff had worked on the case off and on for more than 10 years. Theresult of the prosecution likely wasalso important to the government’sself-esteem: It was still stinging froma defeat in a similar, but much larger,case it had lost in a federal courtroomin Fresno in 2000. In that case, eightCorcoran state-prison guards wereacquitted for allegedly setting upinmate fights and shootings for “blood sport.” The scandal had gottennationwide coverage, including a seg-ment on 60 Minutes.

The retrial of Lewis began onthe last Monday in June with juryselection. By the end of the day, the

jury was seated, and Reynoso wascautiously upbeat. “They think theygot a good jury, and we think wegot a good jury, so one of us is full

of crap,” he joked.Riordan’s defense team was

trying to block some documentsfrom being admitted into evidence,and Reynoso spent that night round-ing up written declarations fromCDC officials in order to validate therecords. On Tuesday, federal prose-cutor Laurel Beeler got the caseunder way. Lewis was charged withdepriving Long of his constitutionalright not to be subjected to cruel andunusual punishment by assaultinghim under color of law and, in asecond count, using a firearm in con-nection with the deprivation of Long’s rights.

In essence, Beeler had to provethat the shooting was deliberate anddid not comply with CDC policy,which only permitted shooting tobreak up a fight if an inmate faced animminent threat of great bodily injuryor death. In most cases, that standardwas interpreted as requiring the pos-session of a weapon by one or moreinmates, and neither Long nor hisassailant was found to have a weapon.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, aparade of inmate and prison-employee witnesses testified tovarious aspects of the incident,essentially painting a picture of aminor fistfight between two inmateswithout weapons. On cross-exami-nation, Riordan attempted todiscredit the government’s wit-nesses and, in particular, the inmatewitnesses, by pointing out their gen-

erally extensive and, in some cases,heinous criminal histories. Riordanalso hammered home the fact thatthe convicted felons were given, or were potentially eligible for, sen-tence reductions of three to sixmonths for their testimonyagainst Lewis.

On Thursday, Beeler called tothe stand a CDC training officer who testified that Lewis hadattended an annual group trainingsession less than a month before theshooting. The class includedinstruction on the CDC shootingpolicy. This was one of thestrongest parts of the prosecutioncase, according to Reynoso. “Healso reviewed several shoot/don’tshoot scenarios where he saidadamantly, ‘I do not teach that youcan shoot for a fistfight,’” he said.The training officer’s testimony was

incriminating, and Riordan spentmore time on cross-examination of the witness than he did on anyother, according to Reynoso.Riordan got the witness to admitthat even without a weapon, aninmate conceivably could use a barefist to kill or cause great bodilyinjury. “But clearly the evidencethat the training officer put inshowed that you could not shoot aman for a fistfight,” Reynoso said.

The last witness of the day wasReynoso, who mostly testi-fied to the authenticity of the records in the case, thecell histories of theinmates, employee timesheets and other technicalaspects of theevidence. At the conclu-sion of his testimony, the

government rested itscase. The jury wasgiven Friday off whilethe lawyers met withthe judge to hear amotion. The defensecase would begin onthe Tuesday follow-ing the three-dayFourth of Julyweekend. It wasanticipated that thedefense case would run a weekor longer.

On that Tuesday, Riordan beganthe defense by entering into evi-dence a portion of an official CDCreport on the shooting. CDC regula-tions required that the investigationof all shootings be conducted by aShooting Review Board (SRB),which is partly made up of prisonofficials from other institutions. TheSRB then determines whether theshooting was justified and compliedwith CDC policy. Riordan had the

jury read the report, which had con-cluded that the Lewis shooting did

not violatting Lewithen annocase was off the staexplainedbeing griland possipotentiall1994 job tto keep thhe said.

The prguard by but it hadup the SRhad prepathe reportwith a loncase agaiWoodforreviewedinvestigaconcludeager wouvalid basiLewis actpolicy in against inraises moanswers, address thlethal for1990s, thestatewidegrossly inislative hprocedurreview pr

The Lany evidestatewidereport in picantly di

Whenhad deciddiscredit was taken‘What thecould hav

T o a n o utt he e l e v at o he r o s t aC C P O A m p uz z l ing . I

w a s f ir e d f oa s s o r t me nmis c o nd uc tt o t he L o ng i

JoeReynoso,left,withCaliforniaPeaceOfficersAssociationPresidentand LodiPoliceChiefJerryAdams,center,andstateAttorneyGeneralBillLockyer,right,afterReynosoreceivedthe AwardofEthicalCouragefromtheassociation.

“STANDING UP”continued from page 25

“ A n d h e r e y o u ’ r e h o l d i n g u p a

g u y a s y o u r h e r o w h o w a s

f i r e d b y t h e d e p a r t m e n t f o r

m i s c o n d u c t a n d r a c i s m a n d

o t h e r s t u f f, a n d s h o t a g u y.

I m e a n i t ’ s a d i s g r a c e t o w h a t

C C P O A c l a i m s t h e y s t a n d f o r. ”

J o e R e y n o s o

DaveLewis,center,posedwith prison-guard-unionofficialsChuckAlexander,left,andRickNewton,right,in Peacekeepermagazinein2001.AlexanderandNewtonreportedlywereinstru-mentalinconvincingthe uniontobankrollLewis’criminaldefense,eventhoughLewishad been fired years earlier.



INSIDE | OPINION | NEWS | COVERSTORY | ARTS&CULTURE | FILM | THEATER | DISH | WORDS | NIGHT&DAY | MUSIC | BACKOF THEBOOK | CLASSIFIEDS | JULY 21 ,2005 | SN&R | 29

The juror confirmed that the SRBreport was important and that the gov-ernment failed to prove its casebeyond a reasonable doubt. “[The

juror said] that if it had been a civilcase, they might well have concludedthat the shooting was negligent, butthey definitely didn’t think that he hadcriminal intent,” Riordan said.

Lance Corcoran, the CCPOA’s vicepresident, called the verdict a victorynot only for Lewis, but also for theprofession. He attributed the prosecu-tion to vindictiveness—a payback bythe federal government for its loss inthe Corcoran prison case of 2000.“I mean, this is a story aboutfederal court abuse; thiswas truly a case of

politics,” he said.“They brought acase that had nomerit whatsoever.”Corcoran is also bitter at the CDC for not pro-viding Lewis legalrepresentation from thebeginning. “What killsme is even thoughhis department clearedhim of wrongdoing,they did nothing tosupport him,”he said.

Corcoran saidhe has greatrespect for Lewis,whom he called agentle soul and anamazing man inspite of his abruptlyended career. “Hewas terminated for some really awfullanguage, and he

acknowledged that.He’s noble in that heacknowledges his mis-takes,” he said.

At least one member of the CCPOArank andfile also was apparentlyelated by the verdict. AnInternet message boardused by Pelican Bay guards posted theoutcome of the trial within 24 hoursafter the jury decided the case.“WHATA RESOUNDING NOTGUILTYthis was from the federalcourts in San Francisco,” read the post.Illustrating that not much has changedin the workplace culture at the prison,the author also had a coded messagefor Reynoso and another CDC investi-gator that had worked on the case.“[T]o those two idiots involved in thiscase from the [CDC] who helped inthe harassment of Dave Lewis I say,‘See that blinking light in the corner of your eye …’”

Reynoso explained that the mes-sage was a veiled threat promisingfuture payback. “The blinking light inthe corner of our eye is the traincoming; the train’s coming after usnow,” he explained.

But it won’t be the first train hehas stared down, and, for now, he isglad to be out of the partnership withthe federal government and will goback to working on run-of-the-millCDC investigations, preferably notinvolving staff misconduct. He said he

would not object if he never has towork on another case against a corruptco-worker.

“I’m never going to do a staff caseagain, not like this. Not until thedepartment is really and trulyreformed to where they support thiskind of an effort. The department hasto be behind a guy that’s doing this.If they’re not, it makes for a miser-able existence.” Ω

“STANDING UP”continued from page 27

C D C i n v es t i g a t o r R e y n os o

h a d v i o l a t e d t h e c o d e o f

s i l e n c e, w h i c h r e q u i r e d

c o r r e c t i o ns e m p l o y e es t o

i g n o r e, o r h e l p c o v e r u p, t h e

m is c o n d u c t o f c o- w o r k e rs.

A c t u a l l y ass is t i n g o u ts i d e

f e d e r a l i n v es t i g a t o rs, as

R e y n os o d i d, w as a

p o t e n t i a l l y f a t a l b r e a c h o f

t h e c o d e.

standing up to corruption by stephen james - sacramento news and review cover story - stephen james...

Documents