Inmate guilty of attacking prison guard

Fines and restitution ordered following plea

A Pelican Bay State Prison inmate charged with assaulting a correctional officer last January pleaded guilty Thursday — two weeks after his arraignment.

Moses Osuna, 36, was sentenced to four years and eight months after pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in prison and possessing a weapon in prison. Osuna originally faced five felony counts, including attempted murder and battery on a correctional officer.

As part of a plea deal, he was also assessed $2,710 in fines and ordered to pay $12,758 in restitution to the correctional officer for his medical expenses and wages lost.

Because the correctional officer is continuing to have medical issues, Del Norte Superior Court Judge William Follett reserved jurisdiction to add more restitution at a later date, if needed.

On Jan. 11, Osuna and another inmate, Omar Cardenas, 20, were being let out of their cell to go to an exercise yard when they attacked two correctional officers, authorities said.

A third officer tried to stop the assaults and was also injured.

Other officers then responded, quelling the attacks with physical force and batons. Two weapons, one metal and the other plastic, were recovered.

Osuna pleaded guilty and requested to be sentenced the same day because he didn’t want Follett to change his mind about the plea deal offered by deputy District Attorney Lisa Specchio, said  Osuna’s attorney, James Fallman, at Thursday’s hearing.

“My client is also showing some remorse,” said Fallman.

Follett opined that the suggested prison term seemed light for the severity of the crime before accepting it.

Assistant District Attorney Katie Micks, who represented the prosecution at the hearing, said  that considering Osuna was already serving 60 years for carjacking and making terrorist threats, Specchio was aiming at prison fines and restitution as the most effective punishment.

Cardenas, has yet to enter a plea on 10 felony charges that include two counts of attempted murder. His next hearing is scheduled for next Thursday.

He is serving fifty years for first-degree murder.

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