Family of inmate slain at Sacramento prison sues, claiming guards helped set him up

The family of a Sacramento-area prison inmate allegedly slain by three other prisoners in 2019 is suing California corrections officials, claiming guards conspired to recruit and assist inmates to conduct the stabbing death.

The suit stems from the Dec. 12, 2019, slaying of Luis Giovanny Aguilar at California State Prison, Sacramento, where guards have been accused in court papers of conspiring to plan inmate murders and which is the subject of an FBI probe into allegations of wrongdoing there by guards.

The prison, also known as New Folsom, has come under renewed focus since the August suicide of a former correctional sergeant turned whistleblower who had been working with attorneys on claims that he had evidence of corruption, harassment and cover-ups by prison staff.

Lawsuit blames guards for inmate’s murder

Now, the lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento adds to the allegations involving the prison, with lawyers for the Aguilar family blaming guards for his murder.

“On or about December 12, 2019, Mr. Aguilar was murdered by three other inmates,” attorneys Kresta Daly and Mark Redmond wrote in their civil rights lawsuit. “Prison guards via their willful indifference to prevent and their actual facilitation of the murder of Mr. Aguilar conspired to cause Mr. Aguilar’s murder.

“Defendants wrongful acts included recruiting inmates to murder Mr. Aguilar and allowing these inmates to practice and then carry out the murder.”

Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

The suit, filed on behalf of Aguilar’s minor daughter, who is identified in court papers only by her initials, D.G., says attorneys for the child were unaware of the allegations about guards until an April 29, 2021, story in The Sacramento Bee revealed the existence of the FBI investigation and various allegations against guards there.

“That article reported there was a state and federal investigation into the conduct of defendants, multiple whistle blowers were involved and some CDCR employees had been reassigned to the mail room,” the lawsuit states. “That article also described a memo sent by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association to all CSP, Sacramento, employees, reminding them that they were not obligated to participate in ‘voluntary’ interviews with agencies out of CDCR, such as the FBI or local law enforcement.”

Court docs: Guards recruited inmates for the slaying

The suit does not name individual defendants, instead listing “Does 1-100” as current and former California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation workers who “facilitated the murder of Mr. Aguilar, including creating the opportunity for his murder, recruiting inmates to carry out the murder of Mr. Aguilar and allowing the inmates to practice and carry out the murder.

“These acts, including the murder of Mr. Aguilar, constituted excessive force against Mr. Aguilar in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights.”

Three inmates have been charged in Aguilar’s slaying.

Charges are pending against two of them, Dion Green and Anthony Rodriguez, who face a preliminary hearing in the case in January and remain in custody at New Folsom.

A third, Cody Taylor, pleaded no contest in April 2020 and was sentenced to 102 years to life, court records say. He is being held at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County.

Videos exist of inmate slaying, practice run

The lawsuit also alleges that there is video of Aguilar’s slaying, something two sources who have seen the video have previously confirmed to The Bee.

“Plaintiffs are informed and believe there is a video of a practice run wherein prison guards allowed Green, Rodriquez and Taylor to practice how they would carry out the murder and video of the murder itself,” the lawsuit says, adding that “Aguilar was murdered because the guards viewed him as a ‘problem inmate’ and sought to make an example of Aguilar by facilitating his murder.”

Similar allegations have been made by attorneys for Brant Daniel, another inmate at the prison who has claimed in court documents that guards planted a homemade knife in his cell and have been harassing him as he awaits trial in a federal racketeering case involving members of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.

Some of those allegations stemmed from information the lawyers received from a confidential source Daniel’s attorneys later identified in court filings as Kevin Steele, the former correctional sergeant whose August death at his home in Missouri was ruled a suicide.

Steele, once an in-house detective for the prison, was on leave from corrections and was acting as a whistleblower for Daniel’s lawyers and another attorney representing the family of another dead inmate.

Two prison whistleblowers have died in past year

He had previously tried to report wrongdoing to the prison warden and corrections secretary, relaying allegations in memos that guards had planted weapons and drugs on inmates, falsified documents, and played video games at work. Ultimately, prison officials in February banned Steele from entering New Folsom, and a spokeswoman later indicated that stemmed from a misconduct investigation, not because of his whistleblower activities.

Steele worked with another prison officer in the Investigative Services Unit, Valentino Rodriguez Jr., who died of an accidental drug overdose a year ago at his West Sacramento home. Rodriguez had been out on leave after complaining of harassment and hazing by fellow officers, and the entire investigative unit has been replaced.

CDCR says 10 officers from the unit face discipline in an inquiry related to the Rodriguez case.

In addition to the ongoing investigations, federal prosecutors have charged two former guards in an alleged cover-up of how an inmate died inside the prison in 2016.

Court filings say the charges stem from the death of a 65-year-old inmate who was being escorted by guards when one of them, Arturo Pacheco, yanked his legs out from under him, leading to the inmate crashing face-first to the floor. He died in a hospital two days later.

Pacheco is charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of falsifying records, and his case is pending, with the next hearing scheduled for Nov. 1

A second guard, Ashley Marie Aurich, pleaded guilty in January to one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation. She has not yet been sentenced and faces her next court hearing Jan. 22.