SACRAMENTO — With jury selection in their racketeering case less than three weeks away, attorneys for two alleged leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang have indicated they’ll likely defend themselves by blaming the other guy.
What’s more, prosecutors now say they have evidence that at least two of the co-defendants in what started as a 16-defendant case have plotted to murder each other in recent years, with one of the alleged murder plots occurring just last summer. These new allegations add even more stress to what has already been a tensely litigated case, with allegations of police corruption, threats of violence and the government asking for unprecedented courtroom security measures.
Attorneys for alleged Aryan Brotherhood commissioners Danny Troxell and Ronald “Renegade” Yandell have both filed motions to prevent them from facing a jury together. Troxell, Yandell and a third man, William Sylvester, are set for trial in late February on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Judge Kimberly Mueller denied the defense motions on Jan. 31, clearing the way for what one lawyer predicted will be a “circular firing squad” of a trial.
Troxell’s attorneys have painted him as something of a peacemaker — or at least an even-keel — within the cutthroat world of prison gang politics. They describe him as a deliberative man who resisted joining murder plots orchestrated by Yandell and others, and who even used his influence to protect would-be Aryan Brotherhood targets from harm, including one man who was eventually killed anyway.
Tantamount to Troxell’s defense is an allegation by prosecutors that one of his co-defendants, Patrick “Big Pat” Brady, tried to have him killed last summer after Troxell’s lawyers filed a motion indicating they would shift blame toward Yandell. Brady interpreted this as Troxell “smutting up” a fellow gang member, according to a motion filed by Troxell’s defense team.
The plot to kill Troxell, prosecutors allege, occurred after Brady circumvented Troxell by “employing sophisticated manipulation of the prison system” to have Troxell moved to administrative segregation, then ordered subordinate white inmates to murder a man named Edmund Bergman at California State Prison, Sacramento. Bergman was Troxell’s cellmate and Troxell wanted to prevent his violent death, according to court records.
After the killing was carried out, prosecutors allege Brady potted on to his next would-be victim, Troxell.
Brady was never charged with any of this, and recently pleaded guilty to a single murder count in connection with a stabbing from years ago at High Desert State Prison. He’s being sentenced to life in federal prison.
Troxell’s lawyers say their stance is bolstered by a second alleged murder plot, this one targeting Brant “Two Scoops” Daniel in January 2019. Like Brady, Daniel recently pleaded guilty to a prison murder in exchange for a life sentence.
The alleged plot to kill Daniel was uncovered by authorities thanks to the interception of a prison “kite,” allegedly authored by Yandell. It said Daniel had been “green lit” — or approved for murder — by not just Yandell but two other Aryan Brotherhood commissioners, Troxell and David “Big Country” Chance.
Chance has not been charged and was released from state prison in December, after a state murder conviction was overturned.
But Troxell’s lawyers argue that contrary to what the note said, their client’s approval was never given. In actuality, they claim, Yandell arranged to have Daniel killed for personal reasons, and was concocting Troxell and Chance’s approval to make it appear the commission was behind him.
The real motive, Troxell’s lawyers claim, was to keep Daniel from telling people that Yandell and Sylvester had granted an interview to gang investigators with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A transcript of that interview, filed weeks ago by Sylvester and Yandell’s lawyers, shows they discussed an ongoing problem between the Mexican Mafia and Fresno Bulldogs, and that gang investigators were seeking assurances the Aryan Brotherhood wouldn’t join in the violence.
All of this, Troxell’s lawyers argued, will help them argue that Yandell was in the habit of purporting to have Troxell’s support in murder plots. Prosecutors have countered that they have multiple witnesses to establish Troxell’s involvement, including prison informants who used to be involved in gang activity.
Yandell’s defense team fired back with their own motion saying that while it wasn’t their choice to have an adversarial trial, they’re prepared to “respond in kind.”
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“It is the government’s theory that Mr. Yandell and Mr. Troxell have known each other for years, confided in each other regarding criminal activity, and both served as leaders on the Aryan Brotherhood ‘Commission.’ If that theory is true, Mr. Yandell is aware of a great deal of Mr. Troxell’s criminal activity that is (as yet) unknown to the government,” Yandell’s lawyers wrote in a motion to sever.
Yandell’s attorneys added that they’ve recently met with Troxell’s defense team with warnings of the “serious impeachment evidence that awaits should Mr. Troxell pursue an antagonistic defense.”
While all this is going on, attorneys on both sides are debating what prior “bad acts” jurors should get to hear about during trial. These include the fatal stabbing in a Sacramento prison of a PENI gang founder named Devlin Stringfellow, allegedly ordered by Sylvester in 2018. Also on the list is the 2013 nonfatal stabbing of a member of the Family Affiliated Irish Mafia at High Desert State Prison, which allegedly was ordered by co-defendant Jason Corbett. After that stabbing, the victim talked about it during a visit with a person who is now cooperating with the government, prosecutors said in court filings. The visit was secretly recorded by prison staff.
Other “bad acts” include the aforementioned alleged plot to kill Daniel, an alleged plot to harm a deputy in the Sacramento jail and multiple prison stabbings committed by Troxell more than 40 years ago, in San Quentin. Defense attorneys have argued bringing this stuff in will prejudice the jury against them.
