Patriot News
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A Dauphin County jury acquitted a county prison guard of assaulting two inmates in a court case that had pitted county prosecutors against prison officials.
After deliberating less than three hours on Friday, the jury rejected simple assault, official oppression and ethnic intimidation charges against Daniel C. Hosler, 33, of Beaver Springs, Snyder County.
Warden Dominick DeRose said Hosler, who has been suspended since his arrest in July, will return to work immediately but will have to undergo training for recertification because he has been off so long.
Hosler’s arrest came in the midst of in investigation into allegations of abuse at the county prison. The other complaints were deemed to be unfounded or lack corroborating evidence, and Hosler was the only guard charged.
In closing arguments on Friday, Senior Deputy District Attorney Michael Consiglio accused prison administrators and staff of covering for Hosler, saying, “The thin blue line was holding tight.”
“It’s not easy, being a part of the same line, to step across and say someone on this side has done something wrong,” he said. “It ain’t easy, and it’s not done with joy. I’m arguing here on behalf of the commonwealth, the commonwealth whose laws were broken.”
Hosler’s attorney, David Dowling, said there was a breakdown in the justice system on the prosecution side.
Hosler was charged with abusing a handcuffed inmate who was being transported to the segregation unit after a fight. Inmate Ayodi Harper said Hosler dragged him against a wall, used his head to bang open doors, spit on him and called him a racial slur.
That story was supported by several other inmates, all of whom received a letter from Harper’s wife days after the alleged abuse.
Harper, who is serving a state prison term for a shooting and armed robberies, has a federal lawsuit pending against the prison.
“Ayodi Harper’s civil suit is the end game here,” Dowling told the jury in closing arguments. “This is just a stepping-stone.”
Dowling also eviscerated Harper’s credibility by cross-examining him with recordings of phone calls he made to his wife, including one in which he told her he was studying a book that he said would help him avoid detection while lying.
County investigators initially declined to prosecute the Harper case, saying there was insufficient evidence. Then, almost a year after Harper’s allegation, investigators said they received a video of what appeared to be Hosler banging a drunken female inmate’s head into a doorjamb.
The prosecution was unable to locate that inmate, Lisa Adams, who is wanted on a theft warrant in Perry County. Her preliminary hearing testimony was read into the record.
Adams was drunk and was staggering and trying to pull away from Hosler when he went through the doorway, Dowling said.
Dowling presented witnesses to both alleged incidents who said Hosler acted appropriately and within prison guidelines.
Consiglio said he respected the jury’s verdict but believed the charges were appropriate.
Throughout the three-day trial, the courtroom was packed with Hosler’s co-workers and supporters.
Copyright 2008 The Patriot News Co.