Posted on: Tuesday, February 11, 2003

Trial of former prison guard begins

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

The manslaughter trial of a former prison guard accused of killing a Halawa prison inmate began yesterday, with city Deputy Prosecutor Alfred Brunn Jr. claiming Antonio Revera died April 23, 1998, after corrections officer Brian Freitas slammed his head into a concrete bench at least three times.

Freitas, 35, was one of a group of five or six guards who tackled and restrained Revera, 26, after he became unruly while being transferred out of the prison's medical unit.

Revera, a convicted rapist who was serving a 10-year sentence, was found dead in his cell following the scuffle. An autopsy showed he had suffered head injuries.

But state Deputy Public Defender William Jameson, who is representing Freitas, said a number of guards were involved in the scuffle with Revera and it is not possible to determine which of them delivered what may have been the fatal blow or blows.

Freitas was indicted on the manslaughter charge in 1999. In May 2001, the state reached a $250,000 settlement with Revera's family.

The manslaughter trial, before Circuit Judge Sandra Simms, is expected to last about a week.