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Prosecutors won't retry FCI Dublin officer 'Dirty Dick' again for sex crimes
Prosecutors said they won't re-try a former FCI Dublin correctional officer for sex crimes and are dismissing all charges against him.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Prosecutors from the US Attorney's Office in Northern California said they won't re-try a former FCI Dublin correctional officer for sex crimes and are dismissing all charges against him.
Only one found not guilty
Darrell Smith, whose nickname in prison was "Dirty Dick," is the only former FCI Dublin correctional officer of 10 charged with sex crimes to not be found guilty.
The nine others – including the former warden of the prison – either pleaded guilty or were found guilty by juries.
Two juries ended in mistrials in Smith's case.
Ten former correctional officers at FCI have been charged with sex crimes at the now-closed women's prison.
Not seeking 3rd trial
In court documents filed on Nov. 19, Asst. U.S. Attorneys Andrew Paulson and Sailaja Paidipaty told U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers that they would not seek to retry Smith a third time.
They also dismissed his charges, documented in a second superseding indictment, without prejudice.
Attorney Deborah Golden, who represents about 50 sex abuse survivors at FCI Dublin, including a woman named as one of Smith's alleged victims, said prosecutors called her the night before they told the court.
"I got a call to let us know that they were officially going to dismiss the charges against Mr. Smith and not retry him for the sexual abuse," Golden told KTVU on Thursday. "They let us know that it wasn't that they didn't believe our client, or any of the women. It was a decision that they made about the best use of their resources in their office and whether they would be able to prove this case if they tried it a third time."
Golden said she understood the decision, but it was "disappointing and heart-wrenching after everything I know."
A mistrial is not the same thing as an acquittal, where a defendant is actually declared not guilty.
But practically speaking, Smith is a free man now living in Florida and does not have any pending criminal charges against him.
Smith declared his innocence
In a brief interview before his second trial in September, Smith told KTVU that he was innocent.
"The girl who testified, I never touched her," Smith said, not being specific about which woman he was referring to. "The whole time she was in prison. Not one time. She got $650,000. And she's now removed from my indictment."
He then added: "Just perhaps, I'm innocent."
Smith was represented by defense attorneys Naomi Chung and Joanna Sheridan. They had argued that there was no DNA, forensic evidence, surveillance video or diaries to prove what the government was saying.
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Powerless in Prison: The fallout of FCI Dublin
In April, the Bureau of Prisons abruptly shut down the troubled FCI Dublin. KTVU interviews dozens of women and explains what led up to the closure, questioning whether this was retaliation for outside oversight over the prison, which has been riddled with sex abuse for decades.
Allegations of sexual abuse
Prosecutors had charged Smith with 14 counts of sexual abuse of a ward and abusive sexual contact while he was a correctional officer at FCI Dublin from 2019 to 2021.
In the most recent trial, just like the first one in March, women testified that Smith locked one of them in a hot water room until she flashed him her breasts before he let her out, fingered another woman in a shower, and, in another case, entered a woman's cell before pinning her against the wall and digitally penetrating her anus.
Finances under investigation
Despite the sex crimes being dismissed, Smith's finances are still under investigation.
During his September trial, Smith's wife testified about how much money and property they owned, which appeared to be in conflict with Smith signing a financial affidavit in 2023 that he owned nothing, which was the reason he was afforded court-appointed defense attorneys.
"I know that they are still actively investigating financial questions that arose during this last trial," Golden said. "And that he still faces civil suits on behalf of many of the women that he harmed at FCI Dublin."
A hearing for those civil suits has been scheduled for Dec. 17.
Smith did not take the stand at either of his trials.
FCI Dublin is no longer.
The Bureau of Prisons announced it was closing FCI Dublin in April 2024, after the former director said she couldn't change the sexualized culture there. The property now sits vacant next to Santa Rita Jail.