Jury Finds Angola Prison Major Guilty for Beating & Stomping Shackled, Handcuffed Black Man Along with 3 Other White Cops in Conspiracy & Cover-up
/
From [HERE] and [MORE] Daniel Davis, 41, a former Major at Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP) in Angola, Louisiana, was found guilty by a jury today in federal court for beating an inmate who was handcuffed, shackled, and not resisting. In a previous trial in January, Major Davis was convicted of conspiring with other officers to cover up the beating by devising a false cover story, submitting false reports documenting that cover story, tampering with witnesses, and lying under oath.Four other officers also pleaded guilty for their roles in the beating and attempt to cover it up.
Four other officers—former Captains James Savoy, John Sanders, and Scotty Kennedy, and former Sergeant Willie Thomas—have all previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the beating and cover up. At Davis’s trial, Captains Sanders and Kennedy testified for the government and described the abuse and the extensive cover up.
After hearing testimony over the course of three days, the jury convicted Davis of willfully depriving the inmate of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The evidence showed that Davis initiated the beating by yanking the inmate’s leg chains, causing the inmate to fall face-first onto the concrete breezeway. At that point, Davis and the other officers punched, kicked, and stomped on the inmate, leaving the inmate with a bloody gash under his eye, a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.
According to the indictment, Major DANIEL DAVIS, Captain JOHN SANDERS and Captain JAMES SAVOY beat an unnamed inmate, who suffered bodily injury as a result. They repeatedly punched, kicked, and stomped an inmate, causing serious injury including a bloody gash under his eye, a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung,"
The defendants then created a false cover story, asserting that the officers used reasonable force to get the inmate under control after he had gotten out of his cell and fought with officers. To corroborate that false cover story, members of the conspiracy instructed subordinates to clean up the inmate’s blood before internal investigators could document it, falsified official prison reports and records, ordered subordinates to lie to internal affairs investigators and lied under oath in a federal civil proceeding arising out of the incident. [MORE]
A fourth defendant, former Captain SCOTTY KENNEDY, age 48, of Beebe, Arkansas, pled guilty on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, for his role in the incident. [MORE]
“Mr. Davis abused the justice system by beating an inmate, writing false reports, and using his influence and power as a corrections officer to encourage others to lie,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division.
No date has been set for Davis’s sentencing. He faces a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment on the conspiracy and perjury counts, 10 years of imprisonment on the excessive force count, and 20 years of imprisonment on each of the remaining obstruction counts.
