By Nate Gartrell
East Bay Times
MARTINEZ, Calif. — It was revealed Monday that a man convicted of capital murder engaged in a fistfight with jail guards in June, after the guards violated their own policy by unshackling him.
Darnell Washington, convicted last month of murdering 55-year-old Hercules resident Susie Ko, punched Contra Costa Sheriff’s deputy Nicholas Andrews in the face repeatedly one afternoon in mid-June, after Andrews informed him he was going to be switching cells, the deputy testified Monday.
Under oath, Andrews compared the force Washington used to a football tackle, saying he was punched in the face several times, knocked on the ground, and that he and Washington wrestled. He said the fight ended after three courtroom deputies who’d escorted Washington to the jail rushed to Andrews defense and stunned Washington three times with a Taser.
After the Taser was used the first time, Andrews testified, Washington, “began laughing and asking us if that’s all we got.” He got on his stomach after being stunned the second time, then put his hands behind his back after the Taser was used the third time, Andrews said under oath.
It was not the first time Washington’s jail conduct has come under scrutiny; In 2012, weeks before Ko was murdered in her Hercules home, Washington escaped a San Bernardino County jail, where he was awaiting robbery charges. In the Bay Area, after he’d been arrested and charged with Ko’s murder, Washington attempted to tunnel out of his jail cell, according to authorities.
Details of the June fistfight — and other moments in Washington’s life — have become public in past days because the jury has been asked to decide whether Washington should live or die. He was convicted last month of murdering Ko during the commission of a robbery, burglary, and carjacking, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.
Members of Ko’s family are also expected to testify this week.
During cross examination, Andrews admitted that it was against policy to unshackle inmates and lead them up the stairs to their cell, but said he didn’t get written up after the fight. Washington’s attorney, Tim Ahearn, asked the deputy if he’d told Washington that he was going to die in his new jail cell, but the deputy denied ever making that remark.