4 Missouri prison guards accused of murdering a black inmate

Four Missouri prison guards were charged Friday with murder and a fifth with involuntary manslaughter for their roles in the death of a black man who died last year after they pepper-sprayed him, covered his face with a mask and left him in a restraint chair, authorities said.

The man, Othel Moore Jr., 38, died Dec. 8 of positional asphyxia at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, according to court documents, which listed the cause of death as homicide.

The incident that led to Mr. Moore’s death occurred during a search by the Missouri Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team of one of the prison’s housing units for contraband, according to court records.

Mr. Moore was frisked and stripped to his boxers, and staff members pepper-sprayed him multiple times and placed him in a restraint system that included a spit mask, which is supposed to prevent saliva from hitting others, and a padded helmet, documents state. He was then taken to another housing unit, where he was left in a cell with the spit mask, helmet and restraint system.

In a news release on Friday, the district attorney’s office said Mr. Moore was left like that for about 30 minutes and that multiple witnesses said they heard Mr. Moore “pleading with corrections staff, telling them he couldn’t breathe.” According to court records, corrections staff did not check on Mr. Moore or provide medical attention until he was “unresponsive.” Mr. Moore, who was serving a 30-year sentence for convictions including robbery and domestic violence, was eventually taken to the prison hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Locke Thompson, the district attorney for Cole County, noted that he could not comment on an ongoing case and said there was surveillance camera evidence that would not be made public until the case is concluded.

One of the guards said he pepper-sprayed Mr. Moore for failing to comply with orders to be quiet and that he felt threatened when Mr. Moore “swung his shoulders toward him in a threatening manner,” according to the report. the court records. But surveillance footage “shows that this was not the case and that the victim’s only movement was turning his head to direct his speech,” the reports said.

Another security guard testified that he pepper-sprayed Mr. Moore in the face as he lay on the ground at the top of the stairs because he had disobeyed orders to stop resisting.

Four guards — Justin M. Leggins, 34; Jacob A. Case, 31; Aaron C. Brown, 24; and Gregory H. Varner, 34 — were all charged with second-degree murder and second-degree assault, according to court records. Another, Bryanne M. Bradshaw, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

All suspects except Mr. Case were in custody Friday afternoon, Mr. Thompson said. Mr. Case had not yet been arrested, but he had “made arrangements to surrender himself to law enforcement,” Mr. Thompson said.

It was not yet clear on Friday evening whether any of the suspects had received legal assistance.

Andrew M. Stroth, principal of Action Injury Law Group, a national civil rights law firm in Chicago, and an attorney for Mr. Moore’s family, said that while the family was devastated by the loss of their brother and son, “they were grateful to the district attorney for his integrity and courage in actually pursuing criminal charges.”

The family has not yet seen the surveillance footage, Stroth said, but is demanding it be released.

Mr. Stroth, who called the case “George Floyd 3.0 in a prison,” said he filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the family on Friday afternoon against the Missouri Department of Corrections, the Jefferson City Correctional Center and the five officers involved in Mr. Moore’s death because “they don’t want it to happen to anyone else and they want to promote systemic change.”

“The Missouri Department of Corrections has a history, pattern and practice of abuse, particularly of Black inmates,” he said. “It’s a tragedy on multiple levels.”

The Missouri Department of Corrections said in a press release on Friday that it had stopped using the security system used on Mr Moore. The department said it was “designed to prevent injury to himself and others.”

The department also said it had conducted its own investigation into Mr Moore’s death and had cooperated with the criminal investigation.

“As a result of the two investigations, 10 people involved in the incident are no longer employed by the department or its contractors,” the department said.

Tim Cutt, executive director of the Missouri Corrections Officers Association, the guards’ union, called the charges “an unfortunate turn of events.”

“We have thousands of corrections officers and they do a good job every day,” he said. “This one incident actually overshadows everything we do.”

Mr Cutt insisted that the officers involved were not “out to kill” Mr Moore and that “this is not something that happens every day”, saying there was no cause for concern among the general public.

The union cannot provide the officers with legal representation, he said, but can refer them to an attorney if requested.

Mr Cutt, who said he had worked in the prison system for 25 years, added that this was the first time he had heard of such a situation.

“We’ve had corrections officers kill people outside,” he said, “but nothing of this magnitude within the confines of the prison.”

Mr Thompson, the prosecutor, said he expected the officers to be arraigned on Monday afternoon.