SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Former California prison officer Brenda Villa was found guilty Wednesday of falsifying records to cover up the killing of an incarcerated person at the California State Prison in Sacramento in 2016.
The 32-year-old North Highlands resident was convicted in a retrial after a previous jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.
U.S. Attorney's officials said Villa was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit falsification of records in a federal investigation and three counts of falsifying records.
Villa was a correctional sergeant supervising other prison officers at facility when Arturo Pacheco unlawfully assaulted an incarcerated person. The inmate died from their injuries at a hospital two days later.
The now-convicted sergeant then directed employees to make false reports by leaving out a prison officer's name—thus descriptions of the unjustified killing didn't become part of the official record.
Former correctional officers Pacheco and Ashley Aurich pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12½ years in prison and 21 months in prison, respectively. Villa is set to be sentenced March 18, 2024.
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