By Daphne Duret
The Palm Beach Post
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A jury could begin deciding the case Thursday of a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s jail deputy accused of arranging for a murder suspect to attack another inmate in his cell and later covering up evidence of the brawl.
Derrick Antonio Daniels faces five official misconduct charges, one count each of aggravated battery and evidence tampering along with a misdemeanor culpable negligence charge in connection with a February 2011 brawl where jail inmate Lajuane Dunnaway said fellow inmate Taurus Turnquest beat him up and stabbed him with a pencil.
As he testified Wednesday, Dunnaway wore a monochrome shirt bearing the words “It’s All About the Paper” — a reference defense attorney Valentin Rodriguez alluded to when he accused Dunnaway of making up the assault story for profit.
A day earlier, Dunnaway’s voice almost broke several times as he described how Turnquest allegedly ambushed him after Daniels let him into the cell where he was being held in solitary confinement. He said Daniels then ignored his cries for help.
“I said, ‘You see how you let him come in here and cut me?” Dunnaway said.
Assistant State Attorneys Marci Rex and Bryan Poulton have told jurors that Daniels removed bed linens and other items with Dunnaway’s blood on them after the fight. They also say he failed to report the incident.
Another deputy testified he noticed Dunnaway’s injuries and took him to the jail’s medical unit, where nurses treated lacerations to his neck and abrasions on his chest and back.
Rodruiguez has implied that Dunnaway’s wounds were self-inflicted, and that he had a reputation for being a troublemaker, which is how he wound up in solitary confinement. Rodruiguez pointed out Wednesday that Dunnaway has asked to be compensated twice from a fund for crime victims. He said was turned down because he’s a convicted felon. Dunnaway said he testified because prosecutors subpoenaed him.
At the time of the alleged attack, Turnquest was awaiting trial for the 2006 Riviera Beach murder of 16-year-old Alfonso Hanna. Two separate juries in 2011 failed to reach a unanimous verdict, although the second jury convicted him of dealing in stolen property by having his girlfriend pawn Hanna’s gold chain and medallion.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on that charge, but he won’t begin serving that sentence until he finishes a 26-year federal prison sentence on unrelated gun charges.
Dunnaway is now a free man, having most recently served a five-year sentence on robbery, assault and battery charges. He has served time in prison for aggravated assault to battery on a law enforcement official, firefighter or emergency worker.
” I’m happy, I’m with my family,” Dunnaway said. “I’m just trying to stay out of jail and make it.”
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case this morning after calling three more witnesses.
If convicted on all the charges, Daniels could face up to 41 years in prison.
Copyright 2014 The Palm Beach Post