By Steven Mayer
The Bakersfield Californian
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — They assaulted and murdered together. They were tried and convicted together. And they were sentenced to life in prison.
Together.
But their partnership in crime didn’t end with their incarceration. That’s because convicted murderers Matthew Basler, 36, and James Fung, 35, were housed in the same wing of the same prison when they came together last year to commit yet another crime.
On the evening of May 10, 2013, inmates at Wasco State Prison were being released for evening chow.
A corrections officer reported seeing Basler and Fung run into cell 141 and shut the door.
According to court filings, by the time authorities reached the cell, Basler and Fung were down on their knees, hands behind their heads, apparently intending to surrender without a fight.
Inmate Tannor Sweet, of cell 141, was not so lucky. Sweet was found bleeding from stab wounds to his head, back, shoulder and leg -- and both hands were punctured with defensive wounds. He survived, but required 18 stitches and 13 staples to close his wounds.
“I don’t understand why they would put two inmates in the same cell or even the same building who were partners in crime on the street,” said Kern County Deputy District Attorney Greg Bianchi.
“I have asked about that,” Bianchi added. “But I haven’t been able to get an answer.”
This is one of those rare instances in the criminal justice system when the prosecution and the defense wholeheartedly agree. Criminal defense attorney Fred Gagliardini, who is representing Basler in the charges stemming from the prison assault, also expressed dismay that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would see fit to allow accomplices in a first-degree murder case to potentially conspire to commit another violent assault behind bars.
“These two guys were co-crimees in their commitment offense,” Gagliardini said. “Why would they be housed together in the same prison in Wasco?”
Both defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder in Riverside County in 2012, in connection with a confrontation at a Temecula bar in 2008 that turned deadly. Both had extensive prior records.
On Tuesday, Basler and Fung agreed to plea deals that will likely add 30 years to their sentences. In exchange, they pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon by a prisoner. A second charge of assault by a life prisoner with force likely to produce great bodily injury was dismissed.
Ironically, the three decades added to their earlier sentences may only be symbolic, as the men would not have been eligible for parole -- even before the additional 30 -- until they were close to 100 years of age.
Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Basler and Fung were not cell mates, but they were indeed housed in the same wing at Wasco State Prison.
A number of factors are considered when determining where an inmate is housed, and each inmate’s “classification score” is reassessed annually by a committee, Sessa said.
“Not all prisons are the same,” he added. Wasco is a Level 3 prison, with Level 4 facilities boasting the highest security for the most problematic and violent inmates. The infamous Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City is a Level 4 facility.
An inmate’s participation in rehabilitation efforts and his behavior inside the prison are critical to his classification score. But the fact that inmates were accomplices on the streets doesn’t play into the decision-making process.
“The mere fact that they were crime partners on the outside,” Sessa said, “does not affect where they are housed on the inside.”
Sessa said he could not comment on where Sweet is currently held, as the inmate is considered a victim. But Bianchi confirmed Sweet is no longer housed at Wasco.
Still, more than a year after their violent attack on a fellow prisoner, the two convicted murderers, Basler and Fung, continue to be housed in the same wing at Wasco State Prison.
Together.