Posted on 06/26/2006 2:54:07 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES -- A former Chino prison guard shouted insults at a judge and prosecutors Monday after he was sentenced to more than 17 years in state prison for helping a violent prison gang distribute drugs and assault inmates.
Shayne Allyn Ziska jumped from his chair and proclaimed his innocence just seconds after Judge Terry Hatter ordered him to federal prison for associating with the white supremacist Nazi Low Riders.
``There was no evidence, judge,'' Ziska angrily told Hatter in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. ``You have a bunch of dope fiends who said I did something so they can get out of doing 25 to life.''
Ziska then turned his anger toward the two federal prosecutors who helped convict him of racketeering and civil rights violations. He called them ``morally bankrupt'' before federal marshals rushed from behind, slapped handcuffs on him and led him out of the courtroom.
According to prosecutors, Ziska, 44, conspired with NLR gang members to distribute methamphetamine and heroin inside the California Institution for Men. He also allowed an NLR member to assault an inmate by stabbing him underneath his eye.
Hatter convicted Ziska in February of participating in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations conspiracy, violent crime in aid of racketeering and deprivation of rights under color of law.
He faced as much as 50 years behind bars.
Prosecutors on Monday asked the judge to sentence him to 20 years.
Ziska, with short hair and a handlebar mustache, was led into the courtroom with his legs shackled. He sat calmly through most of the hearing as attorney's on both sides debated for the judge over how much prison time Ziska deserved.
Hatter then invited Ziska to speak.
Reading from a yellow notepad, the Fontana man stood behind a podium and calmly asked the judge to consider his lifetime of good deeds.
Ziska insisted he is not a racist and denied helping the gang distribute drugs or commit assaults.
He told the judge he took pride in his job and never would have put his colleagues or inmates in danger.
Rather, he said, he volunteered for the prison's most dangerous jobs, including serving on its SWAT team. He said he put his life on the line to protect those around him.
``I never did anything to make things dangerous for my fellow officers,'' he said. ``I made them safer.''
In his spare time, he said, he taught martial arts to minority children in gang-plagued neighborhoods of Riverside.
``This is who I am,'' he said. ``It's a much different picture than what's been painted of me.''
He then sat down.
Hatter compared Ziska to ''Jekyll and Hyde,'' acknowledging his good deeds, but saying he was concerned by Ziska's lack of remorse.
Hatter then delivered the sentence of 210 months in federal prison.
Ziska seethed.
He stood up and began shouting.
Hatter tried to calm him, telling him he had the right to appeal.
``What's that got to do with right and wrong?'' Ziska asked during the profanity-laced outburst. He then added: ``I didn't do anything wrong. That's why I have no remorse, sir.''
He didn't resist as the marshals pulled him away.
Outside the courtroom, prosecutors Kevin Lally and Adam Kamenstein declined to respond to Ziska's outburst.
Ziska's lawyer, Ira Salzman, said Ziska's emotions simply oiled over because he believes he is innocent and is being treated unfairly by the justice system.
Salzman said Ziska plans to appeal.
?????
Who stabbed whom under who's eye?
I had an uncle who was a prison guard, he eventually quit because as he put it "most of the guards should be on the other side of the bars" and that he "he would trust Charles Manson with his life before the other guards"
Sounds like they made an example of him.
I hope they had more on him than the bought testimony of convicts.
The court system is corrupt. I wouldn't be surprised if he were innocent a a prosecutor is building his career with coerced testimony.
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