◼ Case against county correctional officer delayed
A correctional officer accused of bringing drugs into the Humboldt County jail had his case delayed Wednesday due to misplaced copies of evidence materials intended for his defense attorney.
Benjamen Edward Jentry-Rakestraw, 20, of Fortuna, is accused of attempting to bring heroin, marijuana and tobacco into the jail on July 3. He was also accused of allegedly providing prisoner Ruben Anthony Peredia with the drugs, according to court documents.
Peredia is currently in jail on charges connected to the murder of Ezra Sanders. Neither Peredia nor Taryn Nicole Mabe, who allegedly brought the drugs to Jentry-Rakestraw, have been officially charged by the District Attorney's Office for the incident.
The DA's office was supposed to provide a copy of Jentry-Rakestraw's statement to police for his defense attorney, Michael Robinson. Robinson told the court Wednesday that he had requested the information from the DA's office multiple times with no success.
He said with some humor that he “resisted going Tasmanian devil” on Deputy District Attorney Arnie Klein for not providing the documents in a timely manner.
”... I need to know what my client said,” Robinson told the court.
Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Marilyn B. Miles agreed that Klein should have furnished the report much earlier, even without requests from Robinson.
Robinson said he received a data disc Wednesday morning that should have had the statement on it. But when he opened it on his computer, the disc was blank.
Klein told the court that there was a second, now missing disc with the correct data on it. He said his staff would send it to Robinson as soon as they located it.
”We will get Mr. Robinson everything he's entitled to,” Klein said.
Jentry-Rakestraw's next court date is an intervention hearing set for Oct. 7.
Allison White can be reached at 441-0506 or awhite@times-standard.com.
Allison White/The Times-Standard
Posted: 08/20/2009 01:25:16 AM PDT
