By Julie Manganis
The Salem News
MIDDLETON — An inmate awaiting trial in a 2009 Brockton murder has been charged with what a prosecutor called “an extremely violent, sneak attack” on a Middleton Jail corrections officer Tuesday.
Paulino Miranda, 26, of Brockton, pleaded not guilty yesterday to multiple assault and battery counts, including one alleging use of a dangerous weapon, a cafeteria tray.
After viewing a video of the incident on a corrections officer’s cellphone, Salem District Court Judge Matthew Machera said, “That is one of the most disturbing videos I’ve ever seen.”
According to court papers, Miranda was walking toward the trash with his food tray when he turned on the corrections officer, Joseph Barber, and slammed the tray into his head.
He then repeatedly punched Barber, knocking him to the floor, and then slammed his head into the floor, according to the incident report.
Miranda, who was being housed in the jail’s “gang unit,” later told officers that he’d been “put up” to the attack, and said, “I’m going to jail for the rest of my life. I don’t care what you do to me.”
Miranda is awaiting trial in the December 2009 slaying of a 23-year-old Brockton man whose body was found in the passenger seat of a car, according to news reports of the incident.
Prosecutor Patrick Collins said Miranda’s record, which dates back to the 1990s, includes convictions for armed robbery and firearms charges.
Barber was taken to Beverly Hospital for treatment of injuries, including to his eye and mouth.
Though Miranda is being held without bail in the pending murder case, Collins asked Machera to set $150,000 cash bail in the new case, just in case.
Machera actually set bail at more than three times that amount, $500,000.
A status hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26.
Inmates from other counties are sometimes held at Middleton Jail, and conversely, inmates from Essex County are sometimes moved to other facilities, when there are security issues with a defendant.