Second trial begins for inmates in Delaware prison riot

WILMINGTON, DEL. >> The second in a series of trials for 18 inmates charged in a deadly Delaware prison riot began Monday with defense attorneys telling jurors that prosecutors will rely on testimony from convicted criminals who can’t be trusted.

Obadiah Miller, 26, John Bramble, 29, Kevin Berry, 28 and Abednego Baynes, 26, are all charged with murder, kidnapping and other crimes in the February 2017 riot at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, during which prison guard Steven Floyd was killed and three other staffers taken hostage.

Prosecutors are relying heavily on testimony from some of the 108 other inmates who were in the building at Delaware’s maximum-security prison during the riot but were not among the 18 who were charged.

Prosecutors have little physical evidence that would tie any of the defendants to a particular crime, but deputy attorney general Nichole Warner told jurors that Miller’s DNA was found in a mop room where Floyd was held and beaten.

Miller’s attorney, Anthony Figliola, suggested that it would not be unusual to find Miller’s DNA in the mop room because he had been granted the privilege of a prison job.

“He was not a longtimer. He was not one of the guys who had nothing to lose by causing the prison uprising,” added Figliola, who said prosecutors will use the “accomplice liability” theory to try to convict the defendants.

“It’s sort of like, ‘He really didn’t do it, but his buddy did, and he knew about it,’” he explained.

Figliola and other defense attorneys also told jurors they can expect conflicting and unsubstantiated testimony against their clients, suggesting that inmates who were not charged have made deals or have something to gain by testifying for the prosecution.

“Do not trust the wicked,” Bramble’s attorney, Tom Pedersen, told jurors after reciting a child’s fable about a farmer fatally bitten by a snake he had saved from freezing to death.

Similarly, Pedersen said, the prosecution’s case boils down to “the testimony of snakes from C building at James T. Vaughn.” Pedersen’s remark prompted Warner to call for a sidebar discussion between the judge and attorneys before Pedersen resumed his remarks, telling jurors that the prosecution has “less than quality evidence.”

“You are going to hear a dizzying array of contradictions,” he said, adding that the prosecution’s approach will be to “try to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.”