Only one of the six defendants scheduled to go to trial Monday for their involvement in a 2015 riot at Lemon Creek Correctional Center will actually face a jury next week.
Eight men were originally charged with felony rioting and criminal mischief in connection with the incident on Oct, 5, 2015, which reportedly caused thousands of dollars in damage but no injuries. Two have taken plea agreements; two face bench warrants after failing to appear for a hearing Tuesday, and three have opted to take a continuance until July.
The attorney for Justin F. Thomerson requested a continuance from Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg Tuesday due to a medical issue, which was granted over the objections of Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige. Co-defendants Tommie Snyder and Dalton Nierstheimer agreed to waive their right to a speedy trial, and a separate trial for the trio was tentatively set to start July 31; a pre-trial conference was scheduled for July 24.
A fourth co-defendant, Rodney Willis, refused to waive time and will be tried solo with jury selection starting Monday.
Jordan Oldham and Christopher Davison did not show up for the hearing, although their attorneys did.
Paige said Oldham, who is believed to be in Anchorage, has a “terrible” criminal history with multiple felonies and is a “dangerous, violent person,” and asked for a bench warrant. Pallenberg set the warrant at $1,000 and vacated his trial date.
Davison’s attorney said he had not been informed of the court date Tuesday, although Pallenberg noted he failed to appear at a scheduled Monday court date.
Paige told Pallenberg that Davison is currently being sought by Juneau Police Department officers for allegedly discharging a firearm in Switzer Village mobile home park in mid-February, as well as another, uncharged assault. She added that he allegedly is using methamphetamine or heroin, saying, “It’s safe to say he’s not showing up in court.”
Davison has multiple convictions, including six assault convictions, Paige said, asking for a bench warrant to be issued. One of those convictions stemmed from a June 2012 assault of two other prisoners at LCCC.
Pallenberg set Davison’s warrant at $2,500 and vacated his trial date as well.
Two of the original eight inmates charged in the riot, Shawn Buck and Jose A. Munoz, have taken plea agreements.
New phone system was cause of disturbance
The riot reportedly was sparked by changes to the phone system used by inmates that caused a jump in billing rates. Sometime the night of Oct. 5, 2015, calls were abruptly stopped, and inmates became agitated by the fact that they would be paying for those disrupted calls.
In E dorm, inmates covered cameras and uprooted a table bolted to the dorm’s concrete floor. The table was wedged against the door into the dorm, and a window into the dorm was broken. Bathroom partitions and bunk mattresses were ripped from their places and shoved against the broken window in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent corrections officers from flooding the dorm with pepper spray through the resulting hole.
No one was injured in the riot, but Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sherrie Daigle said that visitation had been shut down after the incident and preliminary estimates measure the damage in the thousands of dollars.
In September 2015, the Alaska Department of Corrections debuted a new inmate telephone system operated by a Texas-based firm called Securus. The new system allowed inmate’s to call cellphone numbers — which were previously blocked — but was more expensive and cumbersome for users.
Inmates can’t leave voicemail messages, dial for an operator or directory assistance or use 1-800 numbers. They can’t do three-way calls or use services like Vonage or Google Phone to get around the cost of long-distance calls.
All calls are monitored, and the prison or Securus can end them at any time. Securus’ contract with the state says that calls are limited to 15 minutes “or such other time period as may be specified by the correctional facility.” That time period had been an hour at Lemon Creek, but inmates were being held to the 15-minute limit with the changeover.
Department of Corrections spokesman Corey Allen-Young confirmed that Securus is still the phone system being used at LCCC.
Contact reporter Liz Kellar at 523-2246 or liz.kellar@juneauempire.com.
