Published: July 16, 2009 11:24 pm      

Coordinator questioned in alleged NBCI assault trial

Attorney accuses witness of covering for someone

CUMBERLAND — The prosecution suffered multiple setbacks during the second day of a jury trial against a former North Branch Correctional Institution officer accused of assaulting six inmates at the Cresaptown area facility when one attorney accused a witness of covering for someone.

The case against former NBCI officer Tony D. Nery, 42, of Chambersburg, Pa., is the first of six individual cases against former NBCI guards charged with assault and conspiracy.

Sgt. Colin Detrick, transfer coordinator for inmates at NBCI, said Thursday in Allegany County Circuit Court that the camera he used to take photos of the six inmates transferred from a Hagerstown prison facility March 6, 2008, was of poor quality and the photos didn’t accurately reflect the injuries the inmates suffered in an altercation earlier that day in Hagerstown.

Detrick said the lighting in the vestibule area in which the photos were taken was “really bad” and the cameras purchased by the state and used by corrections officers are “the cheapest they can get.”

“The quality is not very good at all,” Detrick said upon cross-examination by defense counsel D. Benson Thompson III. “It’s almost like something taken on a cell phone.”

Detrick, a 16-year veteran, said the camera he used that night was confiscated by the Maryland State Police and replaced with a much better camera.

Upon re-direct examination, Assistant Attorney General Franklyn Musgrave Jr. got into a heated, tense exchange with Detrick that caused Judge Gary Leasure to halt the proceedings temporarily. At issue was whether state law permitted one party to impeach its own witness.

With trial back in session, Musgrave asked Detrick if he told state police investigators that the camera was of poor quality.

“I may have,” Detrick said.

Musgrave asked Detrick if it’s something that he should have mentioned.

“I’d say, now, yes. I didn’t think about it,” Detrick said. “Now I do.”

Detrick then compared photos he took of the inmates March 6 to photos taken a day later by Detective Sgt. Candice Mills of the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigation Unit. His statements weren’t completely clear whether he felt the photos Mills took showed additional injuries, such as black eyes, cuts or abrasions, to the faces of the six inmates.

Under questioning by Thompson, Detrick said Nery did not mistreat any of the six inmates that night, nor was he sarcastic in tone. Detrick also said Nery didn’t yell at the inmates that night. Moments later, Detrick told Musgrave he hadn’t known who Nery was that night.

“Was Mr. Nery working that night?” Musgrave said.

“He may have been,” Detrick said. “I didn’t know him that night.”

Countered Musgrave: “How do you know he didn’t mistreat anybody?”

Then, before permitting Detrick to form an answer, Musgrave asked, “Who are you trying to cover for?”

After Thompson objected, Leasure halted the line of questioning.

Another setback occurred when current Western Correctional Institution inmate Nathan Oliver, who was being held at NBCI in March 2008, misidentified a member in the audience as Nery. Oliver also appeared to identify Nery as former officer Richard W. Robinson Jr., who is a co-defendant in the series of six trials.

The defense didn’t have everything go its way, however. One of the six inmates alleging assault singled out Nery as one who had hit him.

“I remember his face,” said Mark Luhman, who was released from prison since the incident. “I definitely seen him throwing punches at me. I remember his fist coming towards my face.”

Luhman said he remembered Nery hitting him once.

Thompson then attacked the credibility of the investigation into the incident. When being interviewed by a Maryland State Police corporal, Luhman said he provided names of the aggressors.

“That’s not what I’m asking,” Thompson said. “Did (the trooper) ask you if you could identify them?”

Said Luhman: “I was never shown any pictures.”

Trial is scheduled to continue today at 9:15 a.m.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.