NEW BOSTON, Texas -A Texas prison inmate who drenched a Barry Telford Unit correctional officer with liquified feces last July was sentenced to life in prison Thursday by a Bowie County jury.
It took the jury of nine men and three women a little over two hours Thursday to decide that Alonzo Gilbert Guerrero Jr., 25, should receive the maximum punishment. Wednesday the jury heard testimony that Guerrero was being housed in an administrative segregation cell at Telford when Texas Department of Criminal Justice Correctional Officer Rebecca Smith peeked into his cell as part of a routine security check July 20.
A video played for the jury of the assault shows Smith staggering away after her hair, face and clothing are soaked in the offensive substance after it shoots from cell 77 as if being squeezed from a bottle. Smith continues to undergo periodic blood testing to determine if she contracted any disease or illness as a result of the exposure.
Thursday the jury heard testimony from more than two dozen witnesses, many of whom traveled more than eight hours, concerning Guerrero's prior criminal history and his often threatening and disruptive behavior as an inmate. Office of Inspector General Investigator Will Buttram testified under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp that Guerrero had three prior felony convictions before being found guilty of a fourth felony Wednesday in Bowie County.
Guerrero was convicted of burglary of a habitation in Victoria and Refugio counties before being convicted in 2016 of arson in Victoria County. He received two-year prison sentences on each of the burglaries and was serving a four-year term for arson when he was charged in Bowie County for the assault on Smith.
Detective Robert Nichols of the Victoria, Texas, Police Department testified that he arrested Guerrero in May 2016 for assaulting his girlfriend. As Nichols testified, photographs of the woman were shown depicting scratches and bruising on her neck and chest from being choked.
Travis Campbell of the Victoria County Sheriff's Office testified that he was working as a detention officer July 14, 2016, when Guerrero set a fire in the county jail where he was being held on the domestic violence charge. Campbell said he and other officers rushed to put out the fire which was burning on the floor outside the cell's tray slot and inside the eight-man cell.
Photographs of the fire showed large amounts of ash, smoke and debris covered in foamy white fire extinguisher. Campbell said Guerrero continued to create problems in the Victoria County jail by flooding his cell.
Victoria County Sheriff's Office Deputy Bernadette Vickery testified that Guerrero admitted to setting the fire with trash and grease because he was unhappy about being fed cold sandwiches instead of hot meals.
"We had been serving sack lunches due to some inmate making hooch in the kitchen," Vickery said. "The warden wanted us to serve Johnny sacks until we could go through the kitchen."
Vickery said Guerrero was the only inmate charged with arson in the fire. Guerrero was sentenced to 180 days in the county jail for the domestic violence that led to his incarceration in Victoria County. In October 2016 Guerrero was sentenced to four years for arson as part of a plea bargain.
Officer after officer testified under questioning from Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards that Guerrero was a problem from the beginning of his incarceration in TDCJ. He was initially assigned to a unit in Beeville, Texas, where he was written up for refusing to show his identification and for threatening to assault and kill staff, witnesses testified.
Guerrero was placed at the Telford Unit in January 2017. Telford Correctional Officer Curtis Rhone testified about seeing Guerrero expose himself before urinating on the floor. Telford Correctional Officers Gary Springs and David Walls testified that they were victims of Guerrero's as well. Both said Guerrero stained their clothing with urine and/or excrement July 16 and July 18, just days before the more severe assault July 20 on Smith.
A number of female correctional officers from Telford Unit and Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas, testified that Guerrero has a habit of exposing himself and masturbating when they are in view. Telford Correctional Officer Paula Greer testified that Guerrero threatened to "cut my head off and rape me."
In her closing argument, Richards read the first names of the cadre of correctional officers and TDCJ staff who testified.
"We wanted you to see the people, and their faces, behind everything he's been doing. When you read about it on paper and you think about what's going on in the prison system, you might think this is normal behavior, but it's not," Richards said. "As often as this is going on, it's going on because there hasn't been consequences. What you do here is going to travel outside of this courtroom, outside of this county and through every prison in the state of Texas."
Guerrero's defense lawyer, Jeff Harrelson of Texarkana, asked the jury to consider Guerrero's age and his family support.
Crisp pointed out that several witnesses testified Guerrero laughed when his behavior offended female officers and when his "chunking" hit a mark.
"I thought, 'He isn't going to be laughing when that jury comes back today,'" Crisp argued. "Your verdict today will protect these officers and will help them in the future. The joke is over today. He's run into the wrong couple of prosecutors and the wrong jury."
Crisp said the jury arrived at the right verdict.
"The intentional assault of a correctional officer by throwing feces in her face is not only dehumanizing, it is also deplorable and dangerous behavior," Crisp said. "This jury heard testimony from over 25 correctional officers about the deviant, violent and disgusting criminal behaivor Guerrero has displayed since his incarceration. This punishment verdict-the remainder of his life in prison-should clearly speak to other inmates of the absolute lack of tolerance for assaults of any kind of correctional officers."
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Public Information Director Jeremy Desel offered his thanks to Bowie County's DA and emphasized the work of Texas' roughly 40,000 correctional officers.
"The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is grateful to Bowie County District Attorney Jerry Rochelle and his team of prosecutors for this effort in protecting correctional officers," Desel said. "These public servants put their lives on the line every day for the citizens of the State of Texas and deserve to be defended. Assault is assault whether in a cell block or on the streets and it should not be tolerated."