One of two former Stone County jail inmates who admitted to assaulting another inmate in 2011 to win favor with a jailer who asked them to "handle" suspected troublemakers was sentenced Thursday to five years' probation.
Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller sentenced James Beckham, 35, who pleaded guilty Feb. 26 to violating the civil rights of inmate Raymond Jennings during the Sept. 19, 2011 attack in the Mountain View facility.
Federal prosecutors said that, in the days before the attack, which was done at the behest of jail administrator Randel Branscum, several inmates in a different pod than Beckham flooded their cells by flushing jumpsuits down toilets and banging on doors, irritating Branscum.
In his plea agreement, Beckham said Branscum asked him and other inmates in his pod to "handle" the problem, and then moved Jennings and another inmate into Beckham's cell. Beckham said he understood that he and the inmates housed with him had been given permission by Branscum to beat up the inmates being transferred into their cell. He said, "I punched Jennings multiple times, causing Jennings' head to hit a windowsill or wall in the pod."
Beckham, Branscum and inmate Matthew McConniel, were about a week away from being tried by a federal jury on accusations of conspiring to violate other inmates' civil rights when Beckham pleaded guilty. Branscum, 56, and McConniel, 44, pleaded guilty five days later, on March 2, also admitting to violating Jennings' civil rights.
Both are set for sentencing Nov. 21, although Branscum has already agreed to serve a year in federal prison if the judge approves the agreement.
Several other inmates who were in the pod with McConniel and Beckham didn't attack Jennings and another inmate as instructed, prosecutors said. They said Jennings, who was kicked by McConniel and punched by Beckham, was the only inmate injured. Although his head was bleeding afterward, they said Jennings didn't receive medical attention until three days later.
Branscum admitted to instructing the inmates he asked to "handle" the other inmates to be careful to avoid injuries that would result in hospital bills.
Prosecutors said a sheriff's deputy later told federal agents that Branscum bragged to the deputy about how he "solved the plumbing problem."
Branscum admitted during his plea hearing that in return for Beckham's and McConniel's help, he gave them chewing tobacco, which is otherwise unavailable in the jail. Beckham said in his plea hearing that Branscum also put him on trusty status, which gave him more freedom in the jail.
Metro on 05/27/2016