Guilty verdict in ‘Code of Silence’ case involving guard attack on California prison inmate
A former California prison guard being retried in a “Code of Silence” cover up in an attack on an inmate who later died was found guilty Wednesday.
Brenda Villa, 32, a former sergeant at California State Prison, Sacramento, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit falsification of records and three counts of falsification of records in the cover-up of an attack on inmate Ronnie Price, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Price was a 65-year-old inmate whose hands were cuffed behind his back and legs shackled when guard Arturo Pacheco yanked his legs out from under him and sent him crashing face-first to the ground in 2016.
Price died two days later at UC Davis Medical Center, but was able to describe the attack on him to a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation investigator before he died. A video of that interview was played for jurors.
Villa was convicted of perjury last July, but the jury in that case deadlocked on the other charges, and U.S. Attorney Phil Talbert’s office chose to retry the case.
Villa did not testify during the retrial but her lawyer, Assistant Federal Defender Jerome Price, argued that former guards who testified against her were lying and had cut deals with prosecutors to spare themselves.
Price noted that former guard Arturo Luna was granted immunity, former guard Dorian Lopez was given a proffer agreement that meant nothing he told prosecutors could be used against him and former guard Ashley Aurich was promised prosecutors would seek a lesser sentence in exchange for cooperation.
He also argued that Villa was not present when Price was attacked and was not told what had happened.
“Brenda Villa is not guilty of the charges against her. ...” Price said during his closing argument. “You heard from three co-conspirators. Not one of them told you that they had told Brenda Villa what occurred.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Anderson and Rosanne Rust, who secured the perjury conviction in July, argued that Villa conspired to cover up the attack on Ronnie Price as part of the California prison system’s “Code of Silence” or “Green Wall.”
They contended that Villa wanted Luna’s name kept out of reports on the incident because he had been involved in another use-of-force incident a week earlier and it would “look bad” if he was reported to be in another.
Pacheco pleaded guilty last July to two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of falsifying records. He was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison.
Aurich, Pacheco’s partner during the escort when Price was attacked, pleaded guilty in January 2021 to falsifying records in a federal investigation and testified at trial. She was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
“Villa faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the count of conspiracy and the count of perjury,” Talbert’s office said in announcing the verdict. “She faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of falsification of records.”