Randel Branscum, a former Stone County jail administrator, was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in federal prison for ordering two inmates in the Mountain View jail to beat up others he suspected of flooding jail cells the previous night.
Branscum, 56, pleaded guilty in March, a few days before his jury trial was to begin, admitting that on Sept. 19, 2011, he asked inmates in one cell to "handle" two inmates in another cell that he blamed for the vandalism.
Branscum admitted that he then ordered a jailer to move the perceived troublemakers into the others' cell, resulting in one of the perceived troublemakers being punched, kicked and having his head slammed into a window sill.
The March plea agreement called for the year and a day sentence, with the extra day making Branscum eligible for a possible reduction of his sentence if he maintains a record of good behavior.
One of the inmates who admitted doing some of the beating at Branscum's behest, Matthew McConniel, 44, was also sentenced Monday, to five years' probation. It was the same sentence that Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller imposed in May for James Beckham, 35, the other inmate who, like McConniel, had earlier pleaded guilty to violating the beaten inmate's civil rights at Branscum's request.
But Miller hesitated Monday at letting McConniel off with probation, noting that federal guidelines recommended imprisonment of 77 to 96 months, or 6.4 to 8 years, because of his extensive criminal history that included several charges of second-degree and third-degree battery.
"Mr. McConniel is a walking battery charge," Miller said as he scanned a pre-sentence report listing the defendant's prior charges. He then turned to McConniel, a pale, curly haired man with a somewhat small frame, and said, "You don't look like somebody who would go around beating people up." But after examining the report more closely, Miller indicated he had a hard time giving probation to McConniel, noting, "Beating up folks is kind of what he does."
Gabriel Davis, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., told the judge that the department didn't object to defense attorney Richard Hughes' request for a variance from the guidelines to allow McConniel to serve a probationary sentence, because the focus of the case was "the jailer who abused his power." Davis said McConniel, like Beckham, was considered "an instrument" of the rogue jailer, and he pointed out that Beckham, who had more severely beaten their fellow inmate, had received probation.
Hughes argued that as an inmate, McConniel was also a victim of Branscum's.
"You've got this overbearing jailer who sends a clear message that he wants this activity curbed, and that he just didn't want any hospital bills," Hughes said, adding that if McConniel "hadn't been provoked or encouraged by someone with power over him, this wouldn't have happened."
Hughes noted that McConniel didn't know the beaten inmate, Raymond Jennings, or have anything against him. Hughes also noted that McConniel "may have had some mental health issues" that prompted his involvement in other fights, and that his mother died while he was jailed in the federal case.
Miller ultimately agreed to probation, but tacked on 100 hours of community service work for McConniel during his first year of probation.
As for Branscum, Miller said his sentence was "already locked in" by his plea agreement. Although Branscum considered backing out of the agreement, which hadn't yet been accepted, Miller noted that under federal sentencing guidelines he faced 1½ to 2 years in prison. Branscum then decided to go ahead with the agreement negotiated months earlier by his attorney, Jason Files.
In 2015, Miller granted Files' motion to suppress evidence that prosecutors wanted to introduce at trial against Branscum to show his intent and motive. The evidence included a report that Branscum jabbed a prisoner in the ribs with a flashlight while transporting him to jail, and that he choked a man confined in the back of a police car after the man complained that his handcuffs were too tight.
NW News on 11/24/2016