Inmate pleads not guilty in riot
By Andy Gates | Argus Observer
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:04 AM PDT
VALE — One of seven inmates charged in connection to a riot and assault last summer at the Snake River Correctional Institution pleaded not guilty to the allegations Monday in Malheur County Circuit Court.
SRCI inmate Jorge Pereida Rodrigues was apparently the first of the inmates charged in the case to enter a plea.
The June 2006 incident involved two inmate victims who were assaulted in a recreation yard at the prison, and the situation involved gangs and possibly extortion.
The incident was contained by prison officers with OC spray, and it was captured on video surveillance cameras, law enforcement officials said.
Rodrigues, 33, along with six other SRCI inmates, were indicted March 23 on a felony charge of riot and two counts of third degree assault, which are also felonies, court records show.
Rodrigues was offered a plea agreement from the Malheur County District Attorney’s Office, Rodrigues’ defense attorney Brian Zanotelli said Monday in court, but it was rejected with the not guilty plea.
The prison classified the incident as an isolated fight; however, police and prosecutors viewed the situation as a “riot.”
Riot charges can unfold when someone along with five or more other people engage in tumultuous and violent conduct, thereby intentionally or recklessly creating a grave risk of public alarm, Oregon State Police Det. Jason Reese has said.
“At the institution, it is not classified as a riot, it’s classified as an inmate fight on the yard,” SRCI Spokeswoman Amber Campbell has said.
Zanotelli told the court he would like his client to have a trial separate from other defendants, and Malheur County Judge Patricia Sullivan said he could write a motion for that request.
The state provided no position Monday on Zanotelli’s request.
The incident occurred on a soccer field at the prison, Zanotelli told the court, and Rodrigues said he would like Zanotelli to visit the scene of the alleged riot.
Zanotelli told the court he has spoken with prison representatives about visiting the incident location, but that has not yet been arranged.
Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris described a potential impetus for the incident.
“It is gang-related, and likely related to an extortion demand,” Norris said in April.
The prison opened a special investigation in late spring of 2006 in response to allegations of extortion, Campbell has said.
Norris said gangs and extortion are common problems in prisons.
“We try to make the institution as safe as possible with criminal prosecution,” Norris said previously. The prison’s last riot incident occurred in 1998, Norris said.
Six other inmates charged in the case are scheduled to enter pleas later this month.
Sullivan set a trial dates in the case for Sept. 17 through Sept. 19.
