Inmate sentenced for choking Lincoln prison guard to the point of passing out (2024)

LINCOLN— A Nebraska man who choked a correctional officer to the point of unconsciousness inside a Lincoln prison in 2022 has been sentenced to 10 to 20 years more prison time.

Audun Green, 29, testified at a bench trial last month that he had no idea what had happened,saying,as part of an insanity defense, that one of his multiple personalities must have done it.

But the Lincoln Regional Center doctor who evaluated Green said in his opinion Green likely wasfeigning (or faking) aspects of his mental illness. He's beendiagnosed with schizoaffective or bipolardisorder and intermittent explosive disorder, but not multiple personalities.

Lancaster County District Judge Jodi Nelson ultimately found Green guilty of second-degree assault and assault by strangulation, charges enhanced by the state under the habitual criminal statutes because of his prior convictions.

The assault at issue happened May 17, 2022, at the Reception and Treatment Center on West Van Dorn Street when Green came to turnkey, which controls foot traffic through the different parts of the prison, wanting to go to the indoor gym.

When Department of Correctional Services Cpl. Wesley Dickinson turned him away because it wasn't his turn, Green became extremely agitated. He started to leave, then came back, punching him, then wrapping his arm around his neck.

Dickinson couldn't breathe and lost consciousness. Other prison staff members quickly ran to his aid.

At sentencing Tuesday, Candice Wooster, Green's attorney,said he has been incarcerated since age 17, going from group homes and youth treatment centers to adult jail and then prison.

She said she understands that Green has made choices and Green understands that, too.

"But I do think there's something to be said that his learned behavior has been while he's been surrounded by people making poor decisions," Wooster said. "The people he's learning from are inmates."

She said there's a very real possibility Green will spend his entire adult life incarcerated.

Green said he saw the video and was sorry for what he did and asked if there was any way he could get mental health treatment from a state facility, saying they don't have very good treatment for people like him in prison.

"I just think that would be very helpful," he said.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Charles Byrd said Green has been charged 29 times with third-degree assault alone, though several of the counts have been dismissed.

"He's shown no signs of remorse and shows no empathy for the victim. He continues to persist with this notion that he has multiple personalities even though he's been examined by an expert who says he does not," Byrd said.

In all, he's had 230 misconduct reports while in custody.

"He has a long history of assaulting correctional staff, and the state respectfully would request a substantial sentence in this matter to hold Mr. Green accountable for his actions and hopefully it will send a message to him that this type of behavior is not acceptable," the prosecutor said.

In the end, Nelson, the judge, told Green it was in his hands what he does with his life and whether he continues to be assaultive.

"I don't quite see that there is any sign that you are going to stop," she said. "But that just means that you're going to be piling up cases like this like you have in the past. Not much I can say or do that is going to likely change that situation."

And she sentenced Green to 10 to 20 years in prison on the charges. Because of the enhancement, he'll have to serve all 10 years before he's potentially eligible for parole.

That's in addition to the 11 to 19 years he already was serving for multiple assaults, most of them after he had gone to prison for a felony assault on employees at Kearney’s Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center.