Opinion ID: 167150
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Pedro Castillo Assault

Text: 10 Pedro Castillo, another inmate in the SHU, was an orderly in that unit and responsible for cleaning as directed by the officers. During an argument with Ms. Gutierrez on the morning of April 5, 1996, Mr. Castillo threw a mop and bucket of water onto the floor. Because of this, Mr. Castillo lost his job as an orderly as well as the freedom associated with the job; he was forced to return to 23-hour lockdown. 11 The Government presented evidence at trial that later that day, several officers met to discuss how they would further punish Mr. Castillo for his behavior that morning. According to the Government, the officers resolved to concoct a story that Mr. Castillo was cutting himself — he was a known self-mutilator — which would require them to perform a forced-cell move. The officers assigned roles to each other in the ensuing assault. Because a video camera was perched outside Mr. Castillo's cell, Mr. Schultz's role in the assault was to knock the camera over so that it would not record the officers entering the cell. After doing so, several officers entered the cell, pulled Mr. Castillo off his top bunk, put him on the floor, and restrained him with handcuffs. Additional testimony demonstrated that the officers then took Mr. Castillo to a holding cell where Mr. Schultz and Mr. LaVallee each struck him two or three times in the back with their fists while Mr. Mitchell held Mr. Castillo against the wall. Mr. Mitchell then released Mr. Castillo and walked back to the officers' station approximately twenty feet away; he could hear the sound of the blows as the officers continued to beat Mr. Castillo. Ms. Gutierrez then entered the cell and Mr. LaVallee told her to kick Mr. Castillo, which she did. After the assault, Mr. LaVallee told Ms. Gutierrez that they had beaten Mr. Castillo on her behalf. 12 Following the incident, the officers again fabricated false reports to justify the forced-cell move. The officers reported that Mr. Castillo had been cutting himself and that when the officers entered the cell to subdue him, Mr. Schultz slipped and knocked down the camera. The reports also stated that once the officers were inside the cell, Mr. Castillo punched one of them in the head. None of the reports mentioned that Mr. Castillo was beaten. 13 Mr. Verbickas was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate inmates' civil rights and three substantive assault counts regarding individual inmates. Mr. Schultz and Mr. LaVallee were also charged with conspiracy. Additionally, Mr. Schultz was charged with three substantive assault counts and Mr. LaVallee was charged with four. Following approximately eight weeks of testimony and two weeks of jury deliberations, Mr. Verbickas was convicted on one count of using excessive force against Mr. Lane and was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment. Both Mr. Schultz and Mr. LaVallee were convicted on the conspiracy charge and the substantive assault charge involving Mr. Castillo. The District Court sentenced them to 41 months' imprisonment. This appeal followed. 2 14 In Mr. Verbickas's opening brief, he raises four issues that he claims warrant reversal of his conviction. Mr. LaVallee and Mr. Schultz incorporated these claims by reference into their briefs on appeal. We will therefore address these issues first, as they apply to all the Appellants. We will then address Mr. LaVallee's and Mr. Schultz's additional claims of error in their convictions. Finally, we will address all sentencing issues including the Appellants' claimed errors under United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005) and the Government's cross-appeal contesting the District Court's failure to apply an enhancement for obstruction of justice and its discretionary decision to depart downward from the applicable Guidelines range.