Second California prison guard sentenced in cover-up of inmate’s death six years ago

A former guard at California State Prison, Sacramento, was sentenced to 21 months in prison Monday for her role in helping another guard cover up an attack on an inmate who later died.

Ashley Marie Aurich was sentenced to the full amount sought by prosecutors despite a plea by her defense attorney, Johnny Griffin, that she receive only eight months because of her cooperation with investigators.

“She can’t be punished for all the sins of the world,” Griffin told Shubb, “only her sins.”

Aurich, who Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosanne Rust said has been cooperating in her own case and another investigation, apologized to the judge before she was sentenced, telling him that she was raised in a law enforcement family and knew better than to have broken the law.

“I fully understand that what I did was wrong,” Aurich said. “I made the decision of what I did, and I’m truly sorry.”

Aurich was accused of helping another guard, Arturo Pacheco, cover up the fact that he attacked 65-year-old inmate Ronnie Price on Sept. 15, 2016, by yanking Price’s legs out from under him as he was being escorted inside the prison while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

Price fell face first onto the concrete and suffered a broken jaw and teeth and was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, where he died two days later from a pulmonary embolism.

Pacheco pleaded guilty in July to two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of falsifying records.

He was sentenced in October to 12 years and seven months in prison after apologizing in court for his actions, and was ordered to report for prison on Jan. 10.

“Sentencing Art Pacheco to 12 years in prison was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a judge,” Shubb said, adding that “I believe he is basically a good man.”

But Shubb told Aurich that Pacheco might not have gone through with his attack and the cover-up if she had made clear she would not condone it.

“I don’t think Mr. Pacheco would have done what he did if he had not bee confident that you had his back,” Shubb said.

He added that Aurich is now “going to an institution, not as a guard anymore, as a prisoner,” and that he would have sentenced her to more time if the government had asked for it to send a message to other prison guards.

Rust and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Anderson had initially asked Shubb to sentence Aurich to 17 months in prison and impose a $7,500 fine. But after recalculating federal sentencing guidelines Monday Rust asked for a 21-month sentence.

They argued in a court filing that Aurich’s attempt to cover up for Pacheco’s actions impeded a civil rights investigation into Price’s death, writing that “she witnessed the assault, knew that it took place in a prison, and knew that it was an assault by a prison guard (Pacheco) on an inmate.”

“At all relevant times, Aurich was a trained CDCR correctional officer assigned to work at CSP-Sacramento,” the prosecutors wrote. “In that role, on September 15, 2016, she witnessed her partner brutally assault an elderly inmate for no apparent reason.

“Rather than report her partner’s unprovoked attack as she was required to, Aurich chose to help him cover it up instead. Such conduct must be punished to ensure the proper administration of justice. Otherwise, crimes in prison facilities will continue to be committed and go undetected.”

The prison, also known as New Folsom, is the target of an FBI probe and allegations that guards have planted weapons in inmates’ cells and orchestrated the slayings of some inmates by other prisoners.

Both guards were fired in 2018, and Aurich has been cooperating with federal authorities.

Sentencing memos submitted by prosecutors and Aurich’s attorney were ordered sealed because of the pending case and because she is helping with another investigation.

Rust spoke cryptically in court about what kind of help Aurich has provided, saying only that “how Ms. Aurich cooperated with the government is not known” to others.

“It may be, your honor, that there are further defendants coming out of this investigation,” Rust told the judge. “It’s likely there is stuff that will come out soon, but I can’t discuss that.”

Price’s death also is the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Pacheco, Aurich and Warden Jeff Lynch that was filed in federal court in September and alleges excessive force and due process violations.