By C1 Staff
SAGINAW, Mich. — The inmate charged with attacking Correctional Officer Kevin Ott took the stand during his trial, explaining why he struck the officer multiple times in the head and then stabbed him.
MLive reports that Daniel J. Derda said he felt pressured and rushed while Ott was making him pack for a transfer to a higher security area in the prison. He also said he hadn’t been given notice of the transfer.
He testified that he believes Ott set him up for the transfer after finding a contraband tattoo gun and needles hidden behind a cable outlet box in his cell.
Derda claimed that Ott was “running his mouth” and threatening to use an ECD on him.
“I’m feeling like I’m provoked,” Derda testified. “I’ve got all this stuff on me. I’m not even thinking about him. He’s threatening me with a TASER, so … I turned my back to him, and he clipped it back in there. I thought he, like, went to clip out the pepper spray. I heard the click, so I turned the [expletive] around and cracked him in the head with it.”
Derda struck Ott five times with a homemade weapon consisting of two combination locks attached to a sock. Ott testified that the damage was so bad that the doctor said if he’d been struck one more time, he’d be dead. The intervention of another officer is what he believed saved his life.
Ott said he’s currently nervous about returning to work, as inmates tend to know everything about everyone, and he fears that someone will try to hit him in the head again.
He’s currently without work and suffers from short term memory loss, which makes him feel helpless.
Derda is charged with assault with the intent to murder Ott. If found guilty, he faces the maximum penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole. He’s already serving 15 25 years for a carjacking and armed robbery charges.