Former Springfield inmate facing attempted murder charge

A former inmate at the Springfield correctional facility was arraigned on an attempted murder charge this week stemming from an April 2012 incident.
http://eagletimes.villagesoup.com/p/former-springfield-inmate-facing-attempted-murder-charge/1165024

Former Springfield inmate facing attempted murder charge By Chris Garofolo | Apr 11, 2014 Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 0 Courtesy of: Vermont State Police Dakota Gardner SPRINGFIELD — A former inmate at the Springfield correctional facility who once sent threatening letters to President Obama and Vermont’s governor was arraigned on an attempted murder charge this week stemming from an April 2012 incident where he tried to strangle another prisoner after luring he into a cell with the promise of sex. Dakota Gardner, 23, currently incarcerated in a Pennsylvania federal penitentiary, could face life in prison if convicted on the felony attempted murder charge. He entered a plea of not guilty and will return to court for a status conference later this month. The new charge comes almost two years after he allegedly attacked and seriously injured fellow inmate Ryan John, 21, on April 23, 2012 in the Foxtrot Unit of Springfield’s Southern State Correctional Facility. The two were housed in adjoining cells. John was being held at the Springfield prison on a lewd and lascivious charge stemming from an Orleans County incident, making him a target for other prisoners. Court records show Gardner referred to him as a “snapper,” a derogatory term for inmates behind bars on a sexual assault charge. “[Gardner] went on to tell me that he did a ‘brother and the world a favor.’ [He] told me that he had been planning this for some time,” said Michael Arace, a correctional officer at the Springfield facility, in an affidavit. “Gardner told me ‘He is a [expletive] snapper, all snappers need to die, I will do it again if I get the chance.’” The two inmates had previously discussed having sex in Gardner’s cell during recreation time and would distract the correctional officers by placing a sign in their cell windows indicating they were using the toilet. According to Arace’s affidavit, Gardner told John “we were going to have some fun” and used an item to “choke him a little bit” to enhance the sexual experience. As John got into position, Gardner throw a bed sheet around his neck and proceeded to strangle him. Gardner admitted shortly after the incident he developed the rouse to lure John into his cell for the sole purpose of assaulting him. “He indicated to [correctional officers] that had he not been interrupted, he was going to stomp on inmate John’s throat to crush his Adam’s Apple to make sure he was dead,” said Detective Sgt. John Hagen with the Vermont State Police in an affidavit. Correctional officers were able to stop the altercation, but not before John lost consciousness, stopped breathing and was found without a pulse. As Gardner was escorted from his cell, he yelled to an unknown inmate about his actions. “I killed Ryan John. Well, they might have brought him back, I don’t know. He wasn’t breathing at one point,” Gardner was said to have shouted according to prison staff. Gardner used a bed sheet and a pullover shirt to strangle John. One was so tight around John’s neck it had to be cut off. Medical staff had to administer life-saving measures to him and transported John to Springfield Hospital. He was later airlifted to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., before he was relocated back to the Springfield infirmary on April 27, 2012. This incident occurred only days after Gardner was cited for sending threatening letters from the prison to Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, his family and President Obama. State police received notification on Jan. 26, 2012 that a letter had been sent to Shumlin’s office from the prison, leading to federal charges against Gardner for threatening the president and Vermont’s governor. Gardner was placed in federal custody and accepted a plea agreement to serve 51 months for making threats against the president and successors to the president, mailing threatening communications to the governor and mailing threatening communications to an employee of the social security administration. All the counts were federal because Gardner used the U.S. Postal Service to send the letters. The letters were not made public.