8 men charged with starting deadly jail riot
Date: 2008-11-01 17:40:10
Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080807-...
Submitted By: Come Get You Some
LOS ANGELES – Eight men implicated in a deadly jail riot pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy charges Thursday. A grand jury indictment unsealed in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges the men conspired to target black inmates in a gang-related hate crime. Advertisement The defendants, who are white and Hispanic, are charged with killing Wayne Tiznor during a riot in February 2006 at the North County jail in Castaic. Tiznor, 45, was black. The riot left 46 other inmates injured and resulted in the entire Los Angeles County jail system being locked down. Racial fights broke out at the facility for nearly two weeks afterward. Andres Madrigal, 27; Osbaldo Valenzuela, 29; Enrique Reyes, 30; David Reynoso, 25; Donald Bottoms, 26; Christopher Shrauger, 30; Steven Burns, 26; and Christopher Crews, 28, entered not guilty pleas. Deputy District Attorney Dayan Mathai said witnesses testified that the defendants planned the riot for two days and incited other inmates by yelling gang slogans. Madrigal is accused of secretly passing a “shank” – an improvised blade used as a weapon in jail – to Valenzuela, who chased black inmates around a dormitory until they barricaded themselves behind upturned bunk beds. The indictment alleges Burns, Bottoms and Madrigal punched, kicked and smashed a metal bunk bed on Tiznor's head while Reynoso leaned on top of the bed and Crews yelled, “Kill him!” Prosecutors said Reyes prevented other black inmates from defending Tiznor by directing other Hispanic inmates to hold them back in a corner. Bail is set at $2.07 million for each defendant. The men face life terms if convicted. They are due back in court Sept. 25 for a pretrial hearing. The names of the defendants' attorneys were not immediately known.
