By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Rooftop spotters. Armed officers in SWAT vests on the courthouse steps. An extra magnetometer. A sign-in sheet. A K-9 unit.
Presidential visit? Nope.
It was all for the trial of a prisoner accused of a 1999 prison guard murder.
With the jury of 12 and two alternates selected earlier this week, the trial of Robert Young, 32, accused of the murder of Ralph Garcia, got into full swing Thursday with its second witness.
Young is on trial alone for the next two or three weeks before District Judge Neil Candelaria in what until March was a capital case involving Young and a co-defendant, Reis Lopez. The case stems from an Aug. 31, 1999 prison disturbance at the San Miguel County Detention Center in Santa Rosa involving 200 inmates. The case was transferred to Candelaria from San Miguel County because of conflicts.
In March, the New Mexico Supreme Court said the state had failed to provide enough money for an adequate defense, and capital punishment came off the table.
Lopez pleaded guilty in May to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 29 years in prison.
Young’s trial involves heavy security inside the courtroom as well as outside it.
Six guards are stationed near Young or between him and the judge.
District Court security manager Ken Bozell said the additional security is not coming out of the court’s budget. It’s coming from the Department of Corrections, the Metropolitan Detention Center, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
“It’s high-risk based on the defendant and witnesses who are or were inmates,” he said.
Security concerns were such in 2001 that the judge then presiding over the case, the late Frank Allen, decided to move hearings to a hastily constructed courtroom at the Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe. Before the hearing, officials forced Young - then one of 12 inmates charged in connection with the death - to retrieve a sharpened razor blade wrapped in plastic from his anus.
“He’s a violent gang member accused of killing a correctional officer. He’s dangerous, and he still has gang connections. We’re not taking any chances,” corrections spokeswoman Tia Bland said.
Thursday, former Wackenhut guard Abelicio Padilla, who was a new hire at Santa Rosa the summer of 1999, testified about overseeing inmates using the gym when what first looked like a scuffle erupted.
Padilla stepped in to stop it and one of the prisoners pulled a “shank,” or homemade knife. Padilla and another officer ended up in a locked office with five inmates while trying to stop the fight. Reinforcements arrived, and a short time later Padilla said he heard a call signifying an officer emergency.
Standing a few feet from the master control area, Padilla said he saw corrections officers pulling Garcia out of a unit housing prisoners. His chest was slashed open, and one guard had his hand over it.
Copyright 2008 Albuquerque Journal