JURY CONVICTS PRISON GUARD

14-Year Veteran Officer Guilty Of Drug Possession

A jury convicted a prison guard of felony drug possession charges Tuesday,
but acquitted him on a loftier charge of conspiracy to deal drugs to an
inmate.

The District Attorney's Office had alleged that Wilfred Eric Rivera, a
14-year veteran at the California Men's Colony, was dealing drugs to Son
Kim Nguyen, a 31-year-old inmate serving time for burglary.

Jurors agreed that Rivera, 41, attempted to bring drugs into the prison,
but they were not convinced that he was dealing them.

A conspiracy conviction could have added six years in prison to Rivera's
sentence. While the jury tossed out the conspiracy charge, Deputy District
Attorney Lee Cunningham said the convictions he won might still result in
incarceration.

"I just think that kind of conduct calls for a prison sentence," Cunningham
said, adding that he will suggest a two-or three-year term.

Rivera, who has been terminated from his CMC job, was convicted of drug
possession and attempting to bring drugs into the prison. He will be
sentenced Jan. 26.

Rivera's attorney, Ilan Funke-Bilu, said he was pleased that the jury
acquitted Rivera of the more serious offense.

"I think we're very happy with the results," Funke-Bilu said.

Initially, Nguyen was a co-defendant on trial for conspiracy. But, on the
seventh day of the trial, he agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy. Three
other charges against Nguyen were dropped and he agreed to testify against
Rivera.

Funke-Bilu said Nguyen and other prosecution witnesses were not credible.

"All of the evidence that was the basis for the conspiracy was derived from
career felons," he said.

"The defense just asked the jury to look at these people. They were just
slimy, unreliable, almost proud to be career criminals."

During his opening statement, Cunningham said inmates surfaced with the
allegations of misconduct in February.

"They reported crimes in their neighborhood," Cunningham told jurors.

The allegations claimed that Rivera was providing marijuana and cocaine to
Nguyen.

After the accusations came about, security officers secretly videotaped a
storage-room transaction between Rivera and Nguyen on Feb. 22.

"The inmate information was corroborated by video," Cunningham told jurors
during the trial.

The next day, prison security confronted Rivera as he arrived for work and
found cocaine in his possession.

"He had cocaine in his wallet, but that doesn't mean he's a drug dealer,"
Funke-Bilu said.

While the video did prove a money transaction occurred between Rivera and
Nguyen, Funke-Bilu said, the deal was not related to drugs. Nguyen gave
Rivera money, Funke-Bilu said, for allowing him to get a tattoo - which he
displayed during the video. While the transaction would be illegal, it is
not a serious a crime as drug dealing.

Funke-Bilu said the drug-dealing charges surfaced when other inmates sought
revenge against Nguyen, whom they wanted to oust as the head of the
prison's Vietnamese clique.

Nguyen had also been in scuffles with fellow inmates that might have
motivated the charges, Funke-Bilu said.

Once called to the stand, Nguyen implicated Rivera, saying the guard had
supplied him with marijuana and cocaine on multiple occasions.

Funke-Bilu thinks Nguyen lied on the stand because he had been offered a
deal by the District Attorney's Office.

Cunningham, however, said Nguyen did not want to defend Rivera.

"He testified that he was just tired of trying to protect Rivera, and he
just wanted to get it over with," Cunningham said.

During the trial, the District Attorney's Office had filed an intimidation
charge against Nguyen for allegedly threatening potential witnesses. That
charge - along with two other drug charges - was later dropped. Also, the
conspiracy county, which had earlier been charged as a strike offense, was
reduced.

Nguyen, who was nearing a release date, will serve a four-year term for
conspiracy, and he will lose some credit for time served.

Funke-Bilu said Nguyen testimony was not convincing.

"Obviously, the jury didn't believe him," Funke-Bilu said.