Santa Clara jail guards plead guilty to manslaughter in Michael Tyree death
Three former guards at the Santa Clara County Jail pleaded guilty Tuesday in the 2015 beating death of inmate Michael Tyree, two years after their murder convictions were overturned.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen's office announced that 36-year-old Matthew Farris, 37-year-old Jereh Lubrin and 40-year-old Rafael Rodriguez admitted to voluntary manslaughter for their role in the assault.
"Today, there was some justice for the voiceless and the vulnerable," Rosen said in a statement.
According to prosecutors, Tyree was mentally ill and had been housed in the jail for outstanding warrants and misdemeanor offenses as he waited for space at a mental health facility.
On Aug. 26, 2015, the guards entered Tyree's cell armed with batons. One or more of the guards beat the 31-year-old to death.
"Within an hour, Tyree lay dead in his cell in a pool of vomit and feces. He had lost up to half of his blood through massive internal bleeding. Tyree's liver was severely lacerated, and his spleen was nearly torn in half," the DA's office said.
In 2017, a jury convicted Ferris, Lubrin and Rodriguez of second-degree murder. Following a change in state law on murder, the guards appealed their convictions, which a judge overturned in 2022.
The DA's office had been planning to retry the case ahead of Tuesday's proceedings.
Following Tyree's death, federal monitors were brought in to investigate jail operations and the Santa Clara Co. Board of Supervisors convened a blue-ribbon commission on improving custody operations at the jail.
Prosecutors said multiple reforms were enacted, including the establishment of the Office of Corrections and Law Enforcement Monitoring, increased training in crisis intervention, training on interactions with mentally ill inmates, the use of body-worn cameras and a revised inmate complaint reporting system.
"Michael Tyree's death was a shocking abuse of power but also an impetus that led to long-needed reforms in how we handle the mentally ill in custody. I pray that his name will continue to inspire us to advocate for a criminal justice system that never treats human dignity as a luxury," Rosen said.
All three men will be sentenced to the maximum of 11 years in state prison.