OC prison vigi gets 15 to life for jail beating

I've always wondered why prison inmates think they are somehow just when in jail for terrorizing others. I'm sure the vigi sites will orgasm over this case, but at least the douchebags responsible for this murder are facing justice.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/child-345639-beating-believed.html



Published: March 21, 2012 Updated: 3:40 p.m.
Man gets 15-to-life for jail-beating death

BY VIK JOLLY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – One of several men convicted in the beating death of an Orange County jail inmate mistakenly believed to be a child molester was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life in prison for his role in the 2006 attack in the Theo Lacy branch jail.
Stephen Paul Carlstrom, 43, of Anaheim, kicked John Chamberlain during the attack and was convicted of second-degree murder.
Prosecutors said inmates who participated in the beating targeted Chamberlain because they believed he was a child molester. Chamberlain had been awaiting trial on a misdemeanor charge of possessing child pornography.
He was punched, kicked and stomped on and eventually lost consciousness. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The beating, which triggered several investigations, occurred about 68 feet from where one Orange County sheriff's deputy admitted he was watching "COPS" on television and was dogged by allegations – that were never proven – of deputies helping to set up the Oct. 5, 2006 attack.
"The victim was a captive" with no place to hide, Superior Court Judge James Stotler said at the sentencing.
Also convicted Oct. 25 of second-degree murder were Garret Eugene Aguilar, 29, of Anaheim; Jared Louis Petrovich, 28, of Tustin; Miguel Angel Guillen, 48, of Santa Ana; and Raul Villafana, 25, of Santa Ana.
Carlstrom deserved the sentence he got, Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh said after the sentencing.
"There's no doubt in our view he was one of the leaders and part of his job was to check on why Chamberlain was in jail," the prosecutor said.
After the slaying, Carlstrom bragged to an inmate that society should be thankful for the murder of a "chester," Baytieh said.
"One kick is not murder," Carlstrom's attorney Fred Thiagarajah argued at trial, saying that's all his client did to the victim, a contention challenged by prosecutors.
Thiagarajah said Wednesday his client, who was in jail at the time for drug possession, had already gotten beaten by inmates for not following orders and was forced to act.
"This whole case is one tragedy within another tragedy," he said. "The first tragedy could have been avoided by jailers doing their jobs" and the other his client being in jail simply for possession of drugs.
Three other men — Michael Stewart Garten, 26, of Santa Ana; Christopher Teague, 35, of Long Beach; and Jeremy Dezso Culmann, 28, of Corona — pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last year.
Garten was given 11 years in prison, but will serve a 20-year term because of additional convictions for extortion and drug-related crimes. Teague and Culmann each got 15 years.
Another co-defendant, Eric Charles Miller, 26, of Huntington Beach, is charged with one felony count of murder and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
A grand jury probe concluded that the beating death grew out of an institutionalized culture that allowed inmates to run the jails while deputies watched television and slept at times.
City News Service contributed to this report.