Letter from Lt. A.Herrera

California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation

Memorandum

September 2, 2009

To whom it may concern,


My name is Albert F. Herrera; I am a Correctional Lieutenant and have been employed by the California Department of Corrections since 1990. I wish to add my thoughts along with all the friends of Robert McGowan of which there are many, who want to put an end to a travesty in which this poor man has been made to endure.


Unlike the man who tells a News Reporter how he cannot believe how his neighbor “who he claimed to know” could have possibly killed all his family and committed suicide or the mother who after being told her son killed another in a gang related shooting, said, “not my son he is not a gang member”. I can say unequivocally and without hesitation, Officer McGowan did not commit any of the allegations he was accused of. First of all, I was his supervisor for three years and observed his actions under stress. No man can stray far from his true character under stress and I have observed Officer McGowan react under high stress situations.


I recall vividly, one occasion when Officer McGowan was spit on his face and attacked by an inmate he was about to escort. Officer McGowan had to wrestle the inmate to the ground and using his physical strength and body weight, held the man down while his partner summoned for help. Any other officer in the same circumstances could have used the occasion to use a lot more force than was used on this occasion to gain compliance of the inmate and have been justified, but Officer McGowan merely pinned the inmate to the ground. Picture yourself spit upon, think not only of the humiliation but the possibility that you could be exposed to any number of diseases an inmate may be a carrier of.


I have been witness to many more occasions where Officer McGowan was physically and verbally attacked and each and every time he used restraint and good judgment in overcoming the resistant inmate.


If it were in him to be the monster the federal prosecutor wished to paint to the jury, I would have seen it a long time ago, and I would have witnessed it as he reacted to an inmate’s attack.


Officer McGowan was a means to avoid prosecution by the very ones who would claim themselves victims after having severely battered a correctional officer earlier in the day. I sat in the court room, watching two jurors sleep undisturbed as pertinent information was being disclosed. I watched as the federal prosecutor weaved an incredible tale of fiction, expertly confusing the jury to feel sympathy for felons who admittedly confessed to having injured themselves in the past to “yes” avoid disciplinary repercussions for their actions in the past.


I sat in awe as one inmate described the officer who caused his injuries as a 5’7 medium build Hispanic officer. The other inmate had no idea who the officer was who allegedly caused his injuries. Incredible to us who paid attention to all this testimony was that the jury arrived at a guilty verdict.


Officer McGowan before being hired as a correctional officer was a decent human being loved his family and was a law abiding citizen. It’s unfortunate that the picture painted by the prosecutor caused the jury to believe that the officer who spent 12 years of unblemished public service was a criminal allowing a modern day Barabbas to be set free.


I petition you to please review the facts, to read the testimony without prejudice and restore Officer McGowan’s rightful place in society.


Sincerely,


Albert F. Herrera
Lt. CA Dept. of Corrections