Missouri correctional officer charged with murder of shackled inmate • Missouri Independent

Leggins was present outside Moore’s cell during the operation. Moore was talking to another inmate and Leggins told him to be quiet.

“The victim looked back over his shoulder without moving any other part of his body and asked the suspect why he had to be quiet,” wrote Sergeant Greg Henson of the Cole County Sheriff’s Department in the probable cause statement for Leggins’s indictment. “At that point, Leggins raised a can of pepper spray and sprayed it at close range in the victim’s face.”

The spraying violated service policies, which require the inmate to pose a threat to the officer or other inmates, Henson wrote.

“This unjustified, reckless conduct caused the victim undue suffering and pain,” Henson wrote.

Case sprayed pepper spray in Moore’s face as he lay on the ground.

“During initial interview, Case stated that he sprayed the victim in the face with pepper spray while he was lying on the ground at the top of the stairs because he did not comply with commands to cease resisting,” Det. Aaron Roberts of the sheriff’s office wrote in court documents.

Brown placed the mask over Moore’s face, Deputy Merideth Freeeman wrote in his probable cause statement. He claimed Moore spit on the correctional officers, which other officers denied.

“Brown placed the spit mask on the victim’s head without giving him an opportunity to clean himself of the pepper spray, even though the victim was fully restrained and cooperative at the time,” Freeman wrote, pointing out that he placed the mask incorrectly, blocking Moore’s nose and mouth.

Varner, masked, oversaw the placement of Moore in a restraint device.

“During my interview with Varner, he confirmed that when the victim reached the bottom floor after multiple splashes, he screamed that he could not breathe and that the victim stated he had asthma,” Henson wrote in a probable cause statement.

Bradshaw was the senior officer in the unit where Moore was arrested, and when he arrived at about 7:50 that morning, he was in distress.
“Sgt. Bradshaw stated that Moore was screaming and yelling when he arrived, and although she did not understand what he was saying, she felt he could have been saying he couldn’t breathe or was in distress,” Henson wrote. “Additionally, Bradshaw stated that she knew Moore from previous encounters and did not believe he would be making up medical problems if his yelling was intended to convey such things.”

Moore was taken to a locked room, handcuffed and masked, and was not examined until around 8:20 a.m. that same day, when he was found unresponsive.

Prison reform activist Michelle Smith had not heard of the charges when contacted Friday.

“The fact that they were actually charged is incredible,” Smith said. “I appreciate that. I think it’s necessary and it will help get the information out there.”

Smith organized a vigil in January to raise awareness of the rising number of inmate deaths. Moore’s death was one of 135 deaths in Missouri’s state prisons in 2023, according to Missouri Prison Reform. The number of deaths is rising even as the prison population is declining.

From 2012 to 2014, an average of 31,442 people were incarcerated in state prisons, according to the agency. Deaths averaged 89 per year. During the period from 2020 to 2022, when an average of 23,409 people were incarcerated in state prisons, there were an average of 122 deaths per year.

Many of the deaths are of natural origin, but there are also an increasing number of deaths from overdose.

The investigation into Moore’s case should not end with the charges, Smith said. The way in which prisoners who told his family about his death were treated must also be addressed, she said.

“The person who called the sister and told her he was killed was thrown into the hole,” Smith said. “They retaliated against several men who spoke about it and threw them into the hole.”