Dominic Pezzola, a reserve veteran, and father of two, has been incarcerated for close to two years. Click HERE to support him.
NOTE: Deputy Williams has promised to reach out to the medical Wing of the Detention Center to get to the bottom of this story. Please remain RESPECTFUL of the institutions and jail protocols to allow them what they need to provide proper oversight within the current systems.
During the 700+ days of Dominic’s incarceration, he has been transported to many jails across the nation. During the bulk of his arguably unconstitutionally length pre-trial incarceration, Dominic has spent much of his time in Northern Neck, VA, and Alexandria, VA.
Dominic has a well-documented dietary allergy to soy, and not unlike many other January 6th defendants, (Defendant Chris Quaglin has reported similar issues and struggles from jails across the country) has had a terrible bout of luck convincing the jails his allergy is not only real, but requires that his meals NOT include food he is allergic to.
He is reported to have lost over 20 POUNDS over the course of his incarceration due to disputes over his medical dietary needs.
Allergy tests have been requested by Dominic to the jail to prove his dietary needs are real, the jails answer had previously been that the US Marshall service had denied the request, and thus, Dominic continued to be served meals he could not eat, lest he make himself sick.
There’s just one issue with that story…
Now that his trial has started, Pezzola’s wife’s access to the US Marshalls service no longer remains shrouded in mystery and games of phone tag. In approaching a representative of the Marshalls service, Pezzola’s wife was informed that NO RECORD of ANY ALLERGY REQUEST was ever made to the Marshalls service, and that the $8 that came out of Dominic’s commissary funds for the test is something they would have approved and covered, if the medical wing of jail had ever reached out to them.
Northern Neck jails have earned the ire of January 6th defendants for a laundry list of civil and human rights abuses documented and described at length by many, many J6 defendants housed within their walls for inexcusable amounts of time.
During his time here, Dominic’s Wife has described the experience as a ‘nightmare.’
“Northern Neck was a nightmare. When he was transferred there I truly think someone screwed up somewhere. He was scheduled to have a GI scope that day in Lewisburg for a medical condition he has called Barrett’s esophagus. Took over 6 months to get approval for this procedure. They came to get him in the morning [from Northern Neck] and told him not to bring any of his belongings because he would be coming back to Lewisburg after the procedure but ultimately was put on the transport to NN. He never got his scope done and still hasn’t gotten it. Barrett’s Esophagus, if not treated properly treated causes esophageal cancer, so now that’s another worry. When he got to NN they yet again put him in quarantine. He told me he was freezing all the time, locked in all the time, and not even allowed to get commissary. He got really sick to the point he thought he would have to be taken to the hospital. His attorney got pissed and made some calls to the Marshalls so he was then transported back to Lewisburg for a week or two and then was moved on to Alexandria.”
Barrett’s esophagus is a condition in which the flat pink lining of the swallowing tube that connects the mouth to the stomach (esophagus) becomes damaged by acid reflux, which causes the lining to thicken and become red.
It seems no one has reminded Myrna of the 8th Amendment. She may be good to her community, but her right to improperly punish people she deems unworthy should also be recognized by her community.
Allegations against Deputy Myrna Juarez have been racking up.
Dominic’s allergies forced him to live off commissary food for a long time. And he often relies on the courtesy and compassion of officers in the jail to allow him the necessary water to heat up his food and eat it. The inmates are allowed time out of their cell once a day.
As Dominic always does, he got the attention of someone passing by his cell and asked them to help him heat his water to permit him to eat the only food he had available to eat.
“You can heat it up when you’re allowed out of your cell.” Came the response of Myrna Juarez, the SAME officer who had taken Dom to medical the day before to handle the issue with requesting the soy allergy test. She was also well aware that his time to be out of his cell wasn’t until much, much, later that evening.
Despite being well aware that Dominic’s dietary options were little to none, she denied him the one small kindness she had at her full disposal- helping a hungry man to EAT.
“Do you just expect me to starve until 9pm?”
“That’s not my problem.”
Waiting until she had begun to walk off after rudely dismissing Dominic’s simple request to EAT, Dominic had the audacity to mutter to himself ‘what a bit*h.’
This was all it took for Deputy Myrna to overstep her superiors and use every device at her disposal to abuse her authority in order to punish a starving man for not recognizing a respect any objective person can reason, she wasn’t in this interaction, and should forever from this point be questioned on, about her attitude and ability to do her job.
Juarez’s account of what happened, with nothing but hearsay to back the claims.
Account of Pezzola’s ‘hearing’ conducted in the middle of the night, despite the inmate informing them that he wasn’t in the state of mind to be able to conduct the hearing, due to the sleep aid he’d ingested hours before. The staff responded that he could deal with them right then, or they would have the hearing without him.
Dominic was found guilty of flipping the bird and calling a woman who kept him from eating a slur, but was not compensated for the unauthorized days of punishment Juarez took it upon herself to administer for choosing to participate in letting him starve.
Her superiors had ORDERED that NO sanctions be placed on Dominic pre-hearing, Myrna Juarez it seems believes herself to be above the law if she is feeling particularly self-righteous that day.
Unfortunately, that hearing took place in the middle of the night three hours after Dominic had taken his nightly sleeping pill, and had informed the guards several times that he was not in the proper cognitive state to take part in any hearings.
Dominic now has a laptop for his discovery going through the proper channels to be provided to him for his discovery, now weeks into his trial.
This is not entirely the fault of the jail, this is the necessity of having a good team of dedicated attorneys who can get the needs of your inmate met. This is why your donation to Condemned USA is so important.
With the help of the networks at Condemned USA, we were able to provide Dominic’s team with the proper backup to get this defendant what he needs and fight for his freedom.
SEE BELOW TO SEE HOW YOU CAN HELP SUPPORT THIS CASE.
As of today, 1/18/23, the Sheriff has promised that he will be looking into the medical negligence of this inmate.
Dominic’s Wife has been scheduled for 18 job interviews since her husband’s incarceration. For his PRE-CONCEIVED ‘guilt’, she has been dismissed before attending almost every single interview.
