Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in a federal court trial in Little Rock involving two former youth detention guards who are accused of violating inmates’ civil rights in a Batesville lockup.
The two former jailers on trial in the Little Rock courtroom of U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson are Will Ray, 27, and Thomas Farris, 48, who jointly face a charge of conspiring to violate the inmates’ civil rights between June 2012 and July 2014. Each faces a separate civil-rights charge.
They worked at the White River Juvenile Detention Center.
The defense attorneys rested their cases Monday morning after Ray testified and was cross-examined. Farris did not testify.
Defense attorneys — Bill Bristow of Jonesboro and Barrett Moore of Batesville for Ray, and Nicki Nicolo and Tamera Deaver, both of North Little Rock, for Farris — contend that the lightly trained, inexperienced officers were simply following orders from their captain and believed they had to be strict disciplinarians to prevent violent inmates from rising up suddenly and attacking jailers or other detainees.
After closing arguments, a jury of nine men and one woman, all from the Batesville division of the Eastern District of Arkansas, will deliberate.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.