By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A federal jury on Wednesday cleared former Metropolitan Detention Center corrections officer Kevin James Casaus of the most serious charge against him - beating an inmate in custody - while convicting him on two other charges.
Casaus, 24, was accused of beating inmate Christopher Shields in the shower area of MDC on Dec. 21, 2011. Shields, during the booking process, had gotten into a loud disagreement with another officer over whether he had to be photographed after his drunken driving arrest that evening.
Casaus, former MDC identification officer Demetrio Gonzales, 40, and former corrections officer Matthew Pendley were charged in the indictment.
Jurors, after deliberating for about four hours, convicted Casaus of the lesser charges of lying to Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office detectives investigating the incident and of making false statements in his incident report about what happened. A tape-recording of Casaus’ interview with a detective was played for jurors during testimony. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Casaus faces prison time that is comparable to Gonzales’ sentence of 33 months.
In a plea agreement, Gonzales admitted violating Shields’ civil rights when he struck and choked the inmate in a blind rage after initially engaging in a scuffle in the identification area of the receiving-discharge-transfer unit. Gonzales was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and testified in court Tuesday, the day before he surrendered to begin his sentence.
The assault charge against Casaus accused him of picking up where Gonzales left off, violating Shields’ civil rights by hitting him on he back of the head after Gonzales left the shower room.
But the defense said no one really knew what happened in the shower room, and that Shields, who had been arrested on a DWI charge, was not a reliable witness.
Trial began Monday before U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson.
Casaus was allowed to continue his conditions of release. Had he been convicted of the first count, a crime of violence, he would have been taken into custody immediately. Federal marshals were on hand as the verdict was read because of that possibility.
Present throughout trial were the families of Casaus and Shields, who testified about receiving a $100,000 settlement from the county for his injuries.
Testimony during two days of trial made clear that a body of evidence can be viewed in more than one way.
The defense told jurors evidence suggested Casaus was doing his job in a highly charged and volatile environment.
The prosecution said Casaus had assaulted an inmate who had just been whaled on by the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Gonzales and then tried to hide it.
Fara Gold, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, compared the evidence showing Casaus’ guilt to a cheeseburger.
While you might want all the toppings, she told the jury, if you have bread, cheese and a meat patty, “you’ve got a cheeseburger, so to speak.”
She said it was natural to want more in “this ‘CSI,’ ‘Law & Order’ world,” but argued that the government had met its burden of showing the essential elements of the crimes alleged, even if some details were missing.
Casaus, she said, had finished off the assault by a fellow corrections officer, literally beating a man when he was down.
Casaus’ attorney, Arturo Nieto, in contrast, said Gonzales’ actions “sort of overshadow what’s going on with Mr. Casaus ... That (testimony) cannot influence your decision about what Kevin did.”
Indeed, Gonzales’ actions loomed like the man himself over much of the trial testimony.
It was Gonzales who became so angry he pushed Shields’ head into a window in the identification room during booking, as he testified, and it was Gonzales who grabbed Shields by the collar and took him to the shower room.
Nieto said his client responded with other officers to the scuffle in the identification office as Shields proclaimed his opposition to being photographed.
Nieto suggested Shields was in a blackout by the time he got to the shower room, impairing a memory already fogged by alcohol consumption.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Baker said jurors should acquit Casaus if they believe nothing happened in the shower, but he said Gonzales would not have taken a plea that sent him to prison for almost three years had nothing happened.
“There is no question this happened, and that Kevin Casaus was right there when it happened ... We proved our case,” he said.
Copyright 2013 Albuquerque Journal