Jury deadlocks again in trial of officer charged with sexually abusing inmates at California prison

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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A federal jury has deadlocked for the second time in a trial of a former correctional officer charged with sexually abusing four inmates at a now-closed federal women’s prison in California.

Prosecutors said Darrell Wayne Smith, who worked at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, assaulted the women in their cells and in the prison’s laundry room between 2019 and 2021. He faced 14 counts related to sexual abuse.

Jurors, who had been deliberating since Sept. 18, could not reach a unanimous verdict and deadlocked on Wednesday, KTVU-TV reported. In March, Smith faced similar charges in a trial that also ended with a deadlock.

Defense attorneys at both trials argued there was no DNA, no forensic evidence, no surveillance video and no diaries to prove what the government was alleging.

Michelle Lo, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, thanked the jury for their service but would not comment on whether prosecutors would retry Smith for a third time.

An Associated Press investigation in 2022 revealed a culture of abuse and cover-up that had persisted for years at FCI Dublin, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) east of Oakland. That reporting led to increased scrutiny from Congress and pledges from the federal Bureau of Prisons that it would fix problems at the prison, which was eventually closed last year.

In a statement Thursday, the California Coalition for Women Prisoners expressed disappointment at a lack of a verdict in Smith's case. But the advocacy group pointed out that nine other FCI Dublin correctional officers all have either pleaded guilty to or been convicted by juries of various sex crimes.

The prison’s former warden, Ray Garcia, was convicted in late 2022 of molesting inmates and forcing them to pose naked in their cells. He was sentenced to serve six years in prison.

“We will channel our outrage by growing the movement to address the root causes of this systemic violence and bring survivors home from the abusive Bureau of Prisons,” said Emily Shapiro, an advocate with the coalition.