An accused white-collar criminal pleaded guilty to grand larceny and money-laundering charges just to escape the brutal violence at Rikers Island that left him blind in one eye, according to a lawsuit.
Altura St. Michael Ewers, 46, was accused of helping a Manhattan equity fund manager friend bilk investors, including Kentucky’s state pension fund, out of millions to fund a lavish lifestyle. He was arrested in 2014 and sent to Rikers Island.
Ewers was held in Rikers for a year as he and he lawyer mounted a defense, and prosecutors prepared, for an eventual trial.
But his life behind bars became unbearable after another inmate began targeting the California man, harassing him for money and threatening to shank him.
Ewers reported the threats but claims guards failed to keep him away from the other inmate, who one day beat him unconscious while guards stood by, he claims in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit filed against the city, the Correction Department and others.
The attack left Ewers with seizures; an inability to control his bowels and blind in his right eye, he claims.
By the time the Manhattan DA’s Office offered Ewers a plea deal, he was “physically and mentally completely broken down, and pleaded guilty,” according to court papers.
Facing a maximum of four years in prison, Ewers, who had already spent more than a year behind bars, instead agreed to a plea deal that could get him out of state prison in less than a year. He was sentenced on April 20, 2015.
“He wouldn’t have been [in Rikers] as long as he had if he did not plan on fighting the charges,” said lawyer Carmen Giordano. “He had mounted a defense, and planned on going to trial but he was almost killed … and they promised to transfer him out of Rikers as soon as he pleaded guilty.”
Ewers is seeking unspecified damages.
The Correction Department “has zero tolerance for the mistreatment of inmates, and we take such allegations seriously,” spokesman Peter Thorne said.
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