OAKLAND — A mistrial was declared Monday within the trial of an FCI Dublin girls’s jail guard accused of sexually preying on inmates on the now-shuttered facility, after jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.
Deliberations have been known as off every week after the jurors started deliberating the destiny of Darrell Smith, who confronted 15 counts of sexual abuse and depravation of rights stemming from his years working on the scandal-plagued jail.
Smith represented the final of eight jail guards and executives to face trial in a sprawling investigation sparked by issues the power was dominated by an alleged “rape club” who terrorized inmates for years. Prosecutors secured responsible pleas or convictions at trial in opposition to the seven different jail guards and leaders charged with sexual abuses on the facility – chief amongst them the jail’s former warden, Ray J. Garcia, and its chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse.
In Smith’s case, prosecutors argued that his fame as “Dirty D— Smith” underlaid a marketing campaign to sexually manipulate and abuse beneath his watch — usually by trapping girls of their cells or janitorial closets, typically whereas carrying a cowboy hat, boots and an unbuttoned shirt. They relied on the testimony of a dozen girls, who described being both personally being abused, consoling girls who had been or seeing it occur themselves in 2020 and 2021.
“If you put their stories together, what you have is a horrifying portrait of coercion, manipulation and abuse,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Andrew Paulson advised the jury.
But Smith’s attorneys argued that the guard’s outgoing persona made him an pointless goal for sham abuse allegations. They mentioned a earlier investigation of an improper relationship between Smith and an inmate — for which Smith was cleared by an arbitrator — made him “the perfect patsy.”
“FCI Dublin didn’t just fail the inmates, it also failed Mr. Smith,” his lawyer, Naomi Chung, advised the jury.
On Monday, jurors described a panel that was pretty divided on whether or not Smith was responsible or harmless. Usually, skeptics cited the dearth of direct proof tying Smith to the alleged assaults and the credibility of the inmates testifying in opposition to him.
For Baudelio Medina, 30, the settlements obtained by inmates who sued the federal authorities claiming the jail fostered a local weather of abuse and retaliation performed a “huge part” within the believability of their testimony.
“The room was very, very split in half,” mentioned Baudelio Medina, 30, of Richmond. “There was nothing concrete. It was very he-said, she-said.”
The mistrial comes nearly precisely a 12 months after the Bureau of Prisons first introduced plans to shutter the long-troubled facility.
An avalanche of lawsuits lately claimed the jail’s leaders cultivated a tradition of abuse and retaliation, whereas offering decrepit well being care. One go well with obtained class-action standing for a whole bunch of ladies housed on the jail in spring 2024, resulting in an unprecedented settlement that secured quite a few protections and an impartial monitor to assist guard in opposition to additional abuse.
One other settlement secured a $116-million payout from the federal government for barely greater than 100 of these inmates; different lawsuits stay ongoing.
The jail itself now sits vacant, having been completely closed by the Bureau of Prisons in December 2024, citing low staffing ranges and “considerable repairs” wanted to the power. The transfer was initially cheered by inmate advocates as lengthy overdue, however they now concern the jail could possibly be reopened as a migrant detention middle as a part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
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