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| PADOC inmate convicted of assault on Corrections Officer |
| By Jeff Corcino , Staff Writer, theprogressnews.com |
| Published: 11/17/2011 |
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An inmate at the State Correctional Institution in Houtzdale was found guilty of assaulting a corrections officer at a trial held yesterday at the Clearfield County Courthouse. It took the jury of seven men and five women less than an hour to find Craig Jackson, 21, of SCI-Houtzdale guilty of aggravated assault and prohibited offensive weapons. Corrections Officer Christina Owens testified that on March 22 between 11-11:30 a.m. she was outside in the prison yard watching the south walk when she noticed a scuffle between three inmates. Owens said she went over to the area of the fight, stated her name and ordered them to stop and she used her radio to call for backup. However, the inmates continued fighting and an inmate identified as "Hendricks" pulled out a weapon, a sock with a bar of soap in it secured with a knot. She said Hendricks started swinging the sock at the other inmates but during the scuffle he dropped it and Jackson picked it up and started hitting Hendricks with it. With Jackson and another inmate now attacking Hendricks, Owens said the fight was escalating and decided to step in and grabbed Hendricks from behind and pulled him away from the other two inmates. As she was pulling him away, Owens said she looked over her shoulder and saw Jackson. She said they made eye contact and Jackson swung the sock striking her in the wrist. The blow knocked her down causing her to hit her head on the ground and she was knocked unconscious. Owens said she was first taken to the prison infirmary, then onto Clearfield Hospital for treatment where she was treated for lacerations to her wrist and a concussion. When asked to describe the level of pain she experienced at the time on a scale of 1-10 she said it was a 10. She said she still hasn't completely recovered from her injuries and said she would consider her current level of pain as about a five. Corrections Officer Lieutenant Dave Morgan testified he was the first corrections officer to respond to Owens' call. He said he saw Owens step in-between two inmates who were fighting and saw Jackson take the sock and strike Owens causing her to fall to the ground. When he arrived at the scene he grabbed one of the inmates and handcuffed him. Soon other corrections officers subdued the other inmates. When Jackson was picked off the ground, corrections officers found the sock weapon lying beneath him. Capt. Byron Brumbaugh, head of intelligence at the prison, testified that Hendricks admitted the sock weapon was his saying he carried it with him all the time for protection. Brumbaugh said such weapons are prohibited in the prison and can cause injuries ranging from minor injuries to serious or even fatal if someone got hit in the right spot. The lead investigator in the case Trooper Thomas Granville testified he interviewed Jackson following the incident. He said Jackson denied even being involved in the incident and said he was the victim of "mistaken identity." But at one point in the interview Jackson asked him what would happen if he said it was an accident. Jurors were also shown video surveillance footage of the incident but the incident occurred at some distance away from the camera making it difficult to discern the identities of the inmates involved. Also, the scuffle occurred near a doorway and the door opened right when Owens' was struck causing the door to block the view of the camera. During his closing arguments Jackson's attorney, Patrick Lavelle of DuBois argued that his client was not guilty of aggravated assault because he did not intend to strike Owens. He said he was trying to strike Hendricks but accidentally hit Owens. Lavelle compared it to a dogfight and when someone steps in to separate two fighting dogs, they are probably going to get bitten, not because the dog was trying to bite the person but because the dog was so focused on the fight with the other dog. He argued his client was not guilty of the possession of prohibited offensive weapons because he obtained the weapon in self-defense. However, prosecutor Assistant District Attorney Warren Mikesell argued that Jackson was still guilty of aggravated assault even if he didn't intend to strike Owens because it was his intent to strike Hendricks. This is because of the legal principal of transferred intent because since Jackson had intended to assault Hendricks and instead struck Owens the intent is transferred. Mikesell said it is similar to a situation where someone pulls a gun out and shoots someone but accidentally hits someone else and kills them. He said the shooter would still be guilty of murder. Lavelle objected to Mikesell's assertion saying it is not applicable in criminal cases, but President Judge Fredric Ammerman disagreed saying it does and read the statute in the criminal code to the jury for them to decide whether it was applicable. “click here for more information” . |
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