3 Santa Clara County guards guilty of murder
Three correctional deputies were convicted of second-degree murder Thursday in the 2015 jail-cell beating of a mentally ill inmate at Santa Clara County’s Main Jail — a case the county sheriff said “tarnished the reputation” of her entire agency and was a catalyst for reform.
A jury found Jereh Lubrin, 30, Matthew Farris and Rafael Rodriguez, both 28, guilty of killing 31-year-old Michael Tyree, whose soiled and battered body was found inside his sixth-floor cell.
The defendants, dressed in dark suits, showed no reaction as the verdicts were read, although family members seated behind them gasped and sobbed. Shannon
Tyree, the sister of the slain man, watched the reading of the verdict from the front row of the spectators’ gallery.
The three convicted guards, who face prison terms of 15 years to life when they are sentenced Sept. 1, were led away in handcuffs. Courtroom observers said the jury’s decision to convict the three men came in sharp contrast to other recent cases involving law enforcement officers who have been cleared of homicide charges in the Bay Area and across the country.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen, speaking in front of the courthouse immediately after the verdicts were read, thanked the jury for recognizing that Tyree was “a man with rights and dignity and a family who loved him.”
“Trapped behind bars, Michael Tyree could not stand up to the men whose job it was to protect him,” Rosen said. “The jury stood up to them. His death will never be invisible.”
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith vowed that her department “will not be defined by the action of these three individuals . ... We’re proud that justice was served and that those who are culpable are behind bars.
“The acts carried out by these three individuals tarnished the reputation of this profession and of our entire agency,” the sheriff added. “Conversely, I stand behind the hard work and dedication of the 1,400 deputies who perform their job every day to the highest standards and do the right thing.”
She vowed that the verdicts would “serve as a catalyst” for reforms in the Santa Clara County jails.
Relatives of the three convicted guards walked solemnly from the courthouse, some of them with arms linked, not speaking or answering questions.
The death spurred wide public outrage and prompted efforts to improve conditions inside the county’s jails. In December, the county settled a $3.6 million civil rights and wrongful-death lawsuit with Tyree’s family.
The jury reached its decision Thursday afternoon after three days of deliberation.
Tyree was found naked covered with feces and vomit in his cell on Aug. 25, 2015. The county medical examiner determined he died of internal bleeding from severe damage to his spleen and liver.
Several inmates testified at trial they heard Tyree and inmate Juan Villa being beaten inside their cells that night. One witness said he heard Tyree screaming for help as the three guards entered his cell and began their assault.
Prosecutors used the witness testimony, along with cruel-sounding text messages sent by Farris to other guards, to portray the correctional officers as sadistic brutes who got satisfaction out of beating inmates.
The jury could not reach verdicts on two counts of assault under the color of authority for two attacks on Villa, another mentally ill inmate housed on the same floor as Tyree.
Defense attorneys for the three guards, who had been out on $1.5 million bail each during the trial, argued over the two-month trial that Tyree died after plunging from his jail toilet into his stainlesssteel sink.
Expert witnesses testified that a chevron-shaped mark on Tyree’s back likely came from the lip of the sink. That wound, they argued, caused his spleen to rupture. Tyree’s burst liver may have been the result of bungled CPR, the attorneys said.
The defense at trial picked apart the credibility of the witness testimony from criminal inmates, while lambasting what they described as a hasty and inadequate investigation.
Erratic writing scrawled on the top of the cell and feces high on the wall showed Tyree was standing on his toilet — details detectives disregarded in their investigation, the defense argued.
Tyree was in jail on misdemeanor theft and drug charges. He was housed on a floor reserved for inmates with mental illness or other special needs.