Crime & Safety
Deputies Get Max Sentence In Santa Clara Co. Inmate's Death
BREAKING: Three former Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies were sentenced Friday for killing mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree in 2015.
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — Three correctional officers were sentenced Friday for the killing of a mentally ill inmate in a Santa Clara County jail in 2015, prosecutors said. Former Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies Jereh Lubrin, Rafael Rodriguez and Matthew Farris who were 30, 28, and 28 at the time they were convicted, were each given the maximum sentence of 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of Michael Tyree, 31, on the night of Aug. 26, 2015.
"We asked the court to give the maximum sentence because when these so-called guards broke Michael Tyree's body that night two years ago they also broke the public's trust," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen said.
"We are not given batons, guns, handcuffs and the weight of the law to use with frustration, anger and cruelty. These tools are not our personal possessions, they are lent to us by the people. Entrusted power is not a personal plaything. It is not a happy day that these men whose job it was to watch over our correctional system will now be imprisoned within it. It is a just day," Rosen said.
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Tyree was found dead in his cell, covered in feces and vomit with lacerations to his liver and spleen, which was nearly severed in half.
Numerous inmates in nearby cells testified that they heard Tyree pleading with the guards "I'm sorry" and "stop" before he was found dead. He suffered from bipolar disorder.
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The county medical examiner ruled Tyree's death a homicide by blunt force trauma.
Attorneys for the defendants argued that Tyree died after he slipped or fell off his combination toilet-sink and landed on the corner of the sink.
Defense attorneys said the medical examiner jumped to conclusions in determining the cause of Tyree's death, spending limited time on the investigation and being unduly influenced by inmates' accounts of the assault.
A jury found Lubrin, Rodriguez and Farris guilty June 1.
None of the attorneys for the defendants were immediately available for comment.
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By Bay City News Service
Booking photos courtesy Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
