Guards’ friends, family plead for lenient sentence
Supporters of inmate they killed say the men should not be shown mercy
SAN JOSE » In heartfelt letters, friends and relatives of three former jail guards convicted of the murder of a mentally ill inmate beseeched a Santa Clara County judge to hand down a lenient sentence Friday: no more than a year in county jail, rather than the customary sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
“This tragic event has hurt all families on all sides; mistakes were made, but Matt Farris is not a killer, he is a very good man and hopefully you can see this and treat him with leniency,” wrote retired San Jose police Officer Gary Raul in a sentiment echoed by other letter writers.
But the requests for a short sentence for Farris, Jereh Lubrin and Rafael Rodriguez are strongly opposed by the prosecution and the family and allies of victim Michael Tyree, who have also submitted testimonials to Judge David A. Cena.
“Please do not let Mike’s murder go unnoticed,” one of Tyree’s friends, Lindsay Solomon, implored the judge. “He may have been nothing more than
a homeless person to the guards, but he was so much more than that.”
Tyree, 31, was in jail awaiting a bed in a residential treatment center for the mentally ill on Aug. 26, 2015, when he died in what the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office characterized as an “agonizing and painful” beating death inflicted inside his 12.5 x 6 cell by three trained, physically fit and armed guards.
Cena has only a few choices under California law. He can sentence Lubrin, 30, and Rodriguez and Farris, both 29, to up to a year in county jail each if he finds that the case is “unusual” enough to warrant that term — or to no jail time at all.
If the judge declines to deem the case unusual, however, he must impose the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder of 15 years to life in state prison. A probation officer has recommended the prison sentence, citing among other factors the seriousness of the crime.
The stark choice in the disparate penalties is intended
to give judges limited discretion in rare cases, rather than force them to abide entirely by determinate sentencing laws that California first adopted in 1977.
The former guards have been free for the past 27 months on $1.5 million bail each, but the judge could order them into custody immediately Friday or set a future date for their incarceration. Cena also is likely to allow Tyree’s family to make emotional statements about how the crime affected them.
In a closely watched verdict in June, the jury found Lubrin, Rodriguez and Farris guilty of second-degree murder in Tyree’s death. The panel rejected the defense argument that Tyree’s injuries — including to his spleen, small bowel, liver, face, skull and front and back side of his body — were the result of an accidental fall or suicide.
The case sparked outrage and a close review of the jails run by Sheriff Laurie Smith, including by a special civilian-led commission. The county has implemented some reforms, including installing cameras in most locations in the jail, but critics continue to call for more changes and for replacing
Smith, who faces a reelection battle for her sixth term against two opponents in the June primary. In September, the county settled a lawsuit filed by Tyree’s family for $3.6 million.
The outcome of the sentencing is expected to have major consequences when it comes to the use of force against inmates. While the guilty verdict sent a message that such conduct was unacceptable, many of the county’s more than 700 correctional officers saw it as unfair.
Defense attorneys contend that the former jail guards deserve a break for multiple reasons. They argue that their clients don’t pose a danger to society, as proven by their conduct while on bail for more than two years. They also cite the men’s relatively young ages, lack of criminal history, contributions to the community and the devastating impact prison would have on their lives.
Lubrin’s attorney, Judith Odbert, contends that her client would likely be at constant risk of being brutalized by other inmates if he were placed in the general population and also suffer if he was kept in solitary confinement.
“The sustained fear and anxiety this would cause,” Odbert wrote in a court document, “would result in a literal torture chamber for Mr. Lubrin.”
But Tyree’s family and friends say the men deserve prison. They describe Tyree in their letters as a poet who loved art and music — and struggled to overcome his bipolar disorder. Some remembered him as “full of energy” jumping on a bed as a child, or trying hard to support one of his girlfriends, who was also mentally ill.
“Michael deserved help,” his aunt Pam Pipkin Shaw wrote, “and those men who murdered him should not be given any compassion as they did not give Michael any.”
The letters in support of the men also paint a positive picture. For instance, family friend Susan Griggs described Farris as “a kind, generous, loving, and thoughtful man.” Farris — who wrote multiple texts referring with apparent pleasure to inmates being “twisted up,” “sprayed,” “kicked,” “locked down,”
“slapped” and “beaten the (expletive) down” — is engaged to his longtime girlfriend and has strong local family ties, including with his father, a former Santa Clara County prosecutor.
“He has never been a danger to others nor have I ever experienced any character traits that caused me concern or made me wonder if he could hurt himself or another,” Griggs wrote.
During the trial, prosecutor Matt Braker contended
that the correctional deputies viciously beat Tyree as punishment for mouthing off to a jail nurse earlier in the evening.
During the two-month trial, the men kept a unified front, with none of them testifying about what happened in Main Jail South that summer night. But in court documents, each of their lawyers now says there is no proof that their particular client participated in the beating.