The deliberations of the jury begin against the final dublin FCI dublin faced with accusations of sexual abuse

Oakland – Darrell Smith would have made a notable element in the women’s prison of the FCI Dublin – at least once exchanging the uniform of his guard against leather boots, a unbuttoned shirt and a cowboy hat on the mandate which extended more than five years, according to the authorities.

Now, a jury must decide whether the reputation of a outgoing veteran guardian as a “dirty D – Smith” has underestimated a campaign to sexually attack prisoners under his watch, or has made him a useless target – and wrongly accused – for allegations of fictitious mistreatment.

The deliberations of the jury began on Monday in the Federal Smith trial on 15 sexual leaders and depravity of rights, resulting from his working time in the federal prison of Dublin now closed. He is the last of the eight prison guards and leaders to be tried in a sprawling investigation aroused by concerns that the installation was judged by an alleged “rape club” which has terrorized the detainees for years.

In all, 12 women have taken up position and described either personally mistreated by Smith, consoling women who had been, or seeing it occurred themselves in 2020 and 2021.

“If you put their stories together, what you have is a horrible portrait of coercion, manipulation and abuse,” said American prosecutor Andrew Paulson.

Paulson said Smith had stood in a routine format – befriend the prisoners and shower of gifts or promises of early release, before asking them or complying with his sexual requirements.

The goalkeeper logged in with an inmate by sharing his Native American line and speaking of his wife, then promising to get the woman out of prison because she was “hot,” said Paulson. Later, he would have started to a corner in his cell, grop it and at some point, used the strength to assault her as she was crying “no,” said Paulson to the jury.

The prosecutors said they trapped another woman in a concierge cupboard while he was wearing cowboy outfit. When she asked what he wanted, he would have replied, “You already know, just cooperate,” forced her penis in her, said prosecutors. He would have left the woman in the closet crying.

Again and again, said Paulson, Smith laughed when the women told him to leave their cells or stop abuse.

“He laughed because he felt safe,” said Paulson, telling a time when Smith boasted in one of his victims that “he is paying to know people in high places.”

Prosecutors also underlined the internet research carried out by Smith on his personal iPad, who seemed to have a strange similarity with his alleged crimes, including forced sex women.

However, Smith’s lawyer described the allegations of “golden ticket” for each of the accusers of Smith, taking into account the growing number of regulations paid by the federal government for alleged abuses in prison.

As with a large part of the case of the government, the results of Smith’s Internet research stories were “selectively filtered, selected in cherry and stripped of context,” said lawyer Naomi Chung. She then described the accusers of Smith as women who spoke when “it became clear that the advantages were on the table for taking.”

Chung referred to an accuser who received an $ 1 million dollars by US government after reporting his abuse, as well as a transfer to another prison and later, he was delivered in a transitional house before taking a stand.

“She got everything she wanted before she even got into this courtroom,” said Chung.

Chung noted how Smith has already faced an investigation – and has served a brief suspension – in the midst of long -standing allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an inmate in 2016. An arbiter finally erased him from the allegation, Chung said.

It made Smith an easy target and “the perfect patsy” for fictitious allegations, said Chung. If anything, she added, Smith was “systematically destroyed” by the prison.

“FCI Dublin has not only failed the prisoners, he also failed Mr. Smith,” said Chung.

Smith was the last person charged in the sexual abuse scandal at the FCI Dublin, which included an alleged “rape club” which led to a torrent of prosecution and finally to the closure of the prison in 2024.

The prosecutors obtained pleadings or guilty convictions at the trial against the other seven prison guards and leaders accused of sexual abuse in the establishment – Among them the former director of the prison, Ray J. Garcia, and his chaplain, James Theodore Highhouse.

The prosecution said that the prison leaders cultivated a culture of abuse and reprisals, while providing decrepit health care. A pursuit received a reference status for hundreds of women accommodated in prison in the spring of 2024, which led to an unprecedented regulation which obtained numerous protections and an independent instructor to help protect against new abuses.

Another regulation obtained a payment of $ 116 million from the government for just over 100 of these detainees; Other prosecution is underway.

The prison itself is now vacant, having been permanently closed by the prison office in December 2024, citing low endowment levels and “considerable repairs” necessary for the establishment. This decision was initially applauded by the defenders of detainees for so long, but they are now afraid that the prison can be reopened as a migrant detention center in the repression of the ongoing immigration of President Donald Trump.

The prosecutors stressed that the accusers of Smith only manifested themselves to see justice. A prosecutor on Monday read aloud the testimony of a victim, when she recalled how painful the “damage” they have caused me, is more painful than anything else. And I don’t think I can get it. »»

Smith’s lawyers warned the jury for not believing these accounts.

“We have given you organized evidence to push their story, not to reflect reality,” said Chung. “It’s dangerous.”

Originally published: April 7, 2025 at 4:12 p.m.