CMF inmate charged with prison murder faces late-summer trial

Sherman Dunn, 48, returns in August for a trial management conference and jury trial in September

After some delays, more legal proceedings, a jury trial has been scheduled finally for a California Medical Facility inmate charged with the murder of a fellow inmate more than four years ago in the medium-security Vacaville prison.

Sherman Dunn, 48, appeared in Department 5 for a readiness conference and trial setting. Judge Stephanie Grogan Jones set a trial management conference for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 28, the jury trial for 9 a.m. Sept. 1, also in Fairfield.

Deputy District Attorney

Elizabeth Ring leads the prosecution, attorney Laura Petty the defense.

Dunn is accused of killing Jose Garcia on Aug. 22, 2015, in a CMF dormitory and has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

After an August 2018 preliminary hearing, Judge Robert C. Fracchia ruled there was enough evidence to hold Dunn accountable for the allegation.

During the hearing, several former CMF inmates described the events that preceded the killing, with one saying he saw Dunn hit Garcia with a cane “four times” and continued to strike Garcia after the cane broke in dormitory R1 at the California Drive prison, where the state’s prison inmates receive medical, dental and psychiatric treatment. The witness described the final blow as “a stabbing.”

Fairfield pathologist Dr. Arnold Josselson, who performed the autopsy on Garcia, said that Garcia died as the result of the jamming of a cane into his skull, just above and behind the left ear.

If convicted of murder, Dunn could face a mandatory life sentence without parole or the death penalty.