EIGHT GUARDS SAY THEY DIDN'T HEAR CALLS FOR HELP

Four Other Corcoran Guards Are On Trial In A Rape

Eight current and former guards from Corcoran State Prison testified that
they never heard inmate Eddie Dillard ask for help when he was being raped
by his cellmate.

The eight told the jury of seven men and five women that they worked shifts
during the four days in March 1993 that Dillard shared a cell with Wayne
Robertson.

Four other guards are on trial for allegedly setting up Dillard to be raped
by Robertson. Sgts. Robert Allan Decker and Dale Brakebill, and correctional
officers Anthony Sylva and Joe Sanchez are being charged with aiding and
abetting rape in concert, a felony punishable by up to nine years in state
prison.

The Attorney General's Office, prosecuting the case, has claimed that
Dillard was purposely put in the cell with Robertson, a known "cellie
raper," as punishment for kicking a female guard at another prison.

Robertson, who weighs 220 pounds and stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, testified
earlier that he forcibly raped his 118-pound cellmate, Dillard. Prison
guards knew the two were documented enemies, he said, but put them together
anyway.

The guards who testified Monday said they had never heard Robertson referred
to as "The Booty Bandit," a nickname given to him because of his reputation
for sexually assaulting cellmates.

Assistant Attorney General Vernon Pierson attempted Monday to dig away at
the credibility of the guards who testified.

He questioned former guard Celine Coelho about her statement to
investigators last year that she believed in "sticking to green." When asked
what the phrase meant, Coelho said it meant standing by fellow officers.

"At heart, I'm an officer," Coelho said, looking toward the guards on trial.
"I feel for these officers here."

Fellow guard Maria Ortega, whom Dillard said earlier in the trial was
present when he begged to be removed from the cell, said she never heard
Dillard say a word.

But she admitted under questioning by Pierson that she was several feet away
in a noisy prison environment, preoccupied with her duties of pushing a
loaded food cart.

Two guards who worked the night shift when the rapes occurred testified that
they shined their flashlights into the cell three times while doing inmate
counts. They said they never saw any questionable behavior in Robertson's cell.

Other guards who work in a control booth testified that they can see in
cells from their seats, but admitted it's difficult to see at night and
inside cells farthest away.

More prison employees are expected to testify for the defense today about
shortcomings in the way guards get information about inmates.

At least two of the guards on trial are expected to take the stand
Wednesday, lawyers said.

"He's going to say he would never put an inmate into a cell to be sodomized
by another inmate," said lawyer Katherine Hart, representing Brakebill.

Lawyer Curtis Sisk, representing Decker, said he expects the defense to
finish presenting the case by week's end.