Miami Herald

Friday, February 4, 2000

4 guards charged in murder of inmate at Florida State Prison

PHIL LONG

STARKE -- Four Florida State Prison guards charged with the murder of Death Row inmate Frank Valdes were fired from their jobs Thursday, and the state's top law enforcement officer warned prison guards throughout the state that authorities will not put up with abuse of inmates.

``Crimes like this are not tolerated on our streets, and they will not be tolerated in our correctional facilities,'' said Tim Moore, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Moore and Corrections Secretary Michael Moore flew to Starke to join Alachua State Attorney Rod Smith in a press conference following a brief court appearance by the four corrections officers indicted Wednesday by a Gainesville grand jury.

Smith said the investigation will continue and cautioned people not to assume that the indictments signal the end of the investigation into Valdes' death.

As Moore and other state officials spoke, the four officers -- Capt. Tim Thornton, 34, and sergeants Chuck Brown, 26, J.P. Griffis, 26, and Robert Sauls, 37 -- prepared to post $100,000 bond and be released from the Bradford County Jail. Thornton is a 14-year DOC veteran; Sauls has worked for the DOC for 15 years, and Brown and Griffis for 6.

All four, along with Sgt. Montrez Lucas -- who was indicted last year on aggravated battery charges for a fight with Valdes the day before the inmate died -- were fired Thursday morning.

If the Department of Corrections had fired them before the indictment, the guards would have been entitled to a full hearing -- including all the evidence investigators had against them. Unwilling to reveal that during the grand jury probe, the corrections officials elected not to fire the officers until this week's indictment.

Four other corrections officers remain suspended for initially refusing to cooperate with authorities investigating the case.

DOC chief Moore said he deeply resents that ``the Valdes case has cause some to think that the actions of a few reflect on the department as a whole. This was an aberration, an isolated incident.''

The FDLE's Moore added: ``There are thousands of [corrections officers] who do a great job every day . . . under stressful and trying circumstances.

`FAIR WARNING'

``However, for the few who might be of like mind,'' he said, referring to the four men indicted, ``I want them to take notice that this is fair warning: This kind of activity will not be tolerated.''

Breaking his silence on the Valdes case, prosecutor Smith said the issue is simple: ``There is a line that can't be crossed, but the line has been crossed by certain individuals and this case should be read no broader than that.''

Although Smith successfully requested that the grand jury investigation be moved to Gainesville, he said Thursday that he has no plans to move the trial out of Starke -- a virtual company town in a county where the Corrections Department is by far the area's biggest employer and where many residents are second- and third-generation corrections officers.

Although Smith would not discuss details of the case, it is believed that within the past few weeks, one or more of the other suspended guards gave information to investigators that provided the break they were hoping for.

The indicted guards were given ``initial appearance hearings,'' in a small, hot second-floor courtroom packed with nearly 100 people, most of whom were corrections officers. To a person, the guards refused to speak, saying they were told they would be fired if they did. They waited for a hearing delayed for more than an hour while attorneys negotiated with prosecutors over bond on the four corrections officers.

INDICTMENT DETAILS

Each of the four was booked into the jail Wednesday night on a single count of second-degree murder in the alleged beating death of Miami career criminal Valdes on July 17 at Florida State Prison.

The indictment document itself was short on details, saying the four ``unlawfully and by an act imminently dangerous to another, and evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life . . . but without intent to kill . . . did kill and murder Valdes by kicking and striking him with their feet and hands.''

Although the guards' families and friends refused to talk, their attorneys did.

``We were kind of expecting something along this line, and we are fully prepared to meet these charges,'' said James Neel, a Fort Myers attorney who has represented Sauls for about three months.

Jason Griffis is, ``a very fine man. I was surprised and dismayed that he was indicted and certainly he will plead not guilty,'' said O. David Barksdale, whose law partner Hank Coxe, of Jacksonville, will represent Griffis.

``My client is not doing very well,'' Gainesville attorney Gloria Fletcher said of Thornton.

``He's incarcerated. He has spent a lifetime protecting people from those who committed crimes. He committed no crime. Jail is not a comfortable place to be.''

Like Neel, Fletcher said there will be no plea bargaining: ``It's a trial as far as I am concerned. . . . The man should never have been indicted. He was just doing his job.''