Arraignment for California prison inmate accused of murdering wife during visit
A California prison inmate accused of strangling his wife during a conjugal visit last summer pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in the woman’s death Friday in Amador County.
Anthony DeSean Curry, 48, is accused of murder in the death Tania Thomas. Amador County District Attorney Todd Riebe said Curry is accused of strangling his 47-year-old wife during a July 1 conjugal visit at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
Thomas is one of two women who authorities said were killed last year during conjugal visits with their husbands at the prison in Amador County. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation refers to these visits as “family visits,” which are private and held in apartment-like facilities on prison grounds and span “30 to 40 hours.”
Since the July 1 death of his wife at Mule Creek State Prison, Curry has been transferred to Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County. He appeared via video conferencing call for his arraignment hearing Friday morning in the Amador Superior Court murder case.
The court appointed the Amador County Public Defender’s Office to represent Curry. Eric Castellon, chief defense attorney with the office, appeared in court Friday and entered a not guilty plea on Curry’s behalf.
Speedy trial
Curry was told he had a right to a preliminary trial with 10 court days and a trial within 60 days. While standing inside a gray holding cell inside a room at Pelican Bay State Prison, Curry told the judge he did not want to waive his right to a trial in a timely manner.
“I want a speedy trial,” Curry said during his arraignment hearing.
Judge Robert Moody scheduled Curry’s preliminary hearing to begin April 18. Attorneys will have an opportunity to present evidence, witness testimony and make arguments in court during the preliminary hearing, before the judge decides whether there’s sufficient evidence for Curry to stand trial as charged.
Moody said Curry will have to appear in court for the April 18 hearing. Castellon asked the judge if Curry could be transferred to Amador County Jail to speak with his client in person before his hearing later this month. The judge denied that request, saying Curry will have to be transferred to Mule Creek State Prison before he appears in Amador Superior Court.
After Friday’s brief hearing, Castellon declined to comment about his client’s murder case. He said his office was aware of the charge before the arraignment, but they’re awaiting discovery evidence to handed over by the prosecution.
“I need to speak to him,” said Castellon, who only spoke to Curry briefly Friday on camera during the hearing to explain the court procedure and his rights.
Riebe, who appeared for the arraignment as the lead prosecutor in the murder case, said the case will be forced to move forward within the time limits required by California law. He said refusing to waive your right to a speedy trial is not commonly done by defendants facing a murder charge.
“It’s unusual given the magnitude of the punishment in this case,” Riebe told reporters after the arraignment in the courthouse hallway. “I’m sure his counsel is going to talk to him about that, because they were just appointed today.”
Contra Costa County conviction
Contra Costa Superior Court records show a jury found Curry guilty of attempted murder with enhancements for using a firearm and causing great bodily injury in the Aug. 19, 1999, incident, along with a charge of battery causing serious bodily injury.
NBC News reported Curry was convicted in Contra Costa County and serving a potential life sentence for shooting his girlfriend, another woman, who was found at a truck stop with a gunshot wound to her head that left her blind, partially paralyzed and without any recollection of the shooting.
CDCR records show Curry became eligible for parole in August 2023. At his first parole hearing on Jan. 25, 2024, several months before his wife’s reported strangulation at the prison in Amador County, Curry was denied parole and ordered to remain in custody for at least another three years. His next parole hearing has been tentatively scheduled for January 2027.
Riebe said Curry’s wife was the first of two women strangled last year during separate conjugal visits with their husbands last year at Mule Creek State Prison.
Last month, Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman told The Sacramento Bee that Stephanie Diane Brinson, 62, died as the result of a homicide and her cause of death on Nov. 13 at Mule Creek State Prison was determined to be strangulation.
CDCR records show her husband, David Brinson, had been serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for a Los Angeles County conviction. Brinson, 54, continued to serve his sentence Friday at California Health Care Facility, a prison facility in Stockton.
Brinson was convicted in October 1993 for the execution-style murders of four men during a robbery, according to the Los Angeles Times. Brinson reportedly shot to death Robert Marks and three other men on June 12, 1990, in Marks’ garage apartment in Los Angeles.
Update in other homicide case
In an update on Friday, Riebe said his office has received some records from CDCR pertaining to Stephanie Brinson’s death. He said he is awaiting more CDCR records and asking for further investigation before deciding whether to charge her husband with her death.
Riebe has said David Brinson is a suspect in his wife’s death as the alleged crime occurred during a conjugal visit at the prison. There are no other suspects in the investigation.
“I expect to have some answers by the end of the day,” Riebe said on Friday. “I expect to be able to be in a posture where I can make a charging decision in Mr. Brinson’s case by next week.”
Riebe said he started working as a chief public defender in 1995 in Amador County, before he was elected as district attorney in 1998. During that time, he said there have not been any homicides during family visits at the prison and no violent offenses that he could recall until the two homicides of visitors were reported there last year.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Riebe said. “So this is uncharted territory, at least for me.”
