Franklin County sheriff trial to continue into next week as jury deliberates

FORT SMITH -- Jurors in the use-of-force trial against the Franklin County sheriff haven't reached a unanimous verdict on all three charges leveled against him.

The jury that will decide the outcome of the federal government's criminal case against Sheriff Anthony Boen, 51, began its deliberation Friday in U.S. District Court.

However, after more than four hours of discussion, the jury foreperson indicated to U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks that the group reached a verdict on only one of the three counts. The jury decided that it would like to submit all of its verdicts at once and will continue deliberating after the court convenes again at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

This occurred after Boen's attorneys rested their defense, which began Thursday, and each side delivered its closing arguments.

Boen pleaded innocent to three federal charges of deprivation of rights under color of law on Dec. 17, 2019. His indictment accuses him of using unreasonable force against detainees three separate times, resulting in "bodily injury" in each instance.

One of the charges in the indictment stated Boen punched a detainee Justin Phillips of Panama, Okla., "multiple times in the head and body" while he and a deputy were taking Phillips to the Franklin County Jail on Sept. 14, 2017. This took place while Phillips was handcuffed and shackled in the back of a patrol car and not resisting, according to the indictment.

The second charge states Boen ordered detainee Brandon English of Ozark taken to the detectives' office on Nov. 21, 2018, after which he pushed English onto the floor and grabbed English's hair or beard, according to the indictment.

The indictment states that on Dec. 3, 2018, Boen struck another detainee, Zachery Greene of Ozark, "multiple times in the head" while Greene was shackled to a bench in the county jail and not resisting. This was the count on which the jury reached a verdict.

In his instructions to the jury, Brooks said each of the counts had four elements that the federal government had the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt:

• That Boen deprived the victims of the right of a pretrial detainee to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer.

• That Boen acted willfully to disregard the law.

• That Boen acted under color of law. Both parties agreed this had been proven.

• That Boen's conduct resulted in bodily injury.

The federal government's closing argument, delivered by attorney Michael Songer, emphasized what multiple current and former employees of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office testified throughout the week about witnessing the incidents listed in the indictment or hearing Boen talk about them either in person or over the phone. The latter included phone calls recorded by the FBI as part of its investigation into Boen and played to the jurors as evidence.

Songer said each of the officers came forward because Boen had abused his authority. He called Boen a "bully with a badge" who used force against the victims not as a reaction to a threat or in self-defense but as something he planned to do in advance. He concluded his argument by stating it was up to the jury to hold Boen accountable.

Russell Wood, one of Boen's attorneys, said the case was about credibility. He used his closing argument to illustrate contradictions in the testimonies given by the government's witnesses, saying the federal government didn't present a cohesive story on all three counts from which a reasonable person could determine what happened.

The contradictions included differences when these witnesses said certain events related to the three charges took place, who was present during the events and how they happened.

One of the more significant differences was one in which Phillips testified Tuesday former chief deputy Mason Berry, who said he saw Boen beat Phillips as described in the indictment, actually held his his head while Boen did so. Berry, when cross-examined by Wood Tuesday, said he told the FBI in 2019 the allegations weren't true.

Wood also reminded jurors of information provided by the witnesses the defense called contradicting testimony from the opposing side. He said in addition to the many conflicting accounts, the government presented little hard evidence. He claimed the recorded phone calls the government presented had nothing in them except what the government wanted the jury to infer about Boen.

Songer took to the stand again to deliver a rebuttal to Wood's argument, which included discussing other evidence the government presented this week. Songer said while there were contradictions in the witnesses' testimonies of these incidents, which happened years ago, they all agreed on the fundamental issue of Boen violating the rights of people who weren't doing anything at the time.

Boen chose not to testify Friday as part of the defense's case.