Five former Missouri correctional officers have been charged in connection with the death of an inmate at the Jefferson City Correctional Center late last year, the Cole County district attorney announced Friday.
Justin M. Leggins, 34, Jacob A. Case, 31, Aaron C. Brown, 24, and Gregory H. Varner, 34, were charged with second-degree assault and first-degree murder. Bryanne M. Bradshaw, 25, was charged with second-degree manslaughter.
Othel Moore, 38, died in correctional facility custody on Dec. 8. He was reportedly restrained with a hood, bandage and a restraint chair after being pepper-sprayed twice during a search of the facility for contraband, according to a news release from the Cole County District Attorney’s Office on Friday.
An autopsy by the University of Missouri Forensic Laboratory determined that Moore’s cause of death was “positional asphyxia with aspiration of gastric contents,” according to court documents.
Court documents obtained by KOMU 8 on Friday allege Leggins pepper-sprayed Moore as he stood handcuffed outside his cell during the smuggling operation. The documents allege Leggins told Moore to be quiet after Moore briefly spoke with an inmate who was in the cell next to him. Moore looked over his shoulder and asked why he had to be quiet, at which point Leggins pepper-sprayed him, court documents allege. The documents, provided by an investigating Cole County Sheriff’s deputy, say Moore was compliant and showed no aggression, and several other inmates were seen chatting outside their cells without being harmed.
According to court documents, Moore was taken to another residential facility where he was left in a solitary cell with a hood, robe and restraint chair. According to court documents, Varner oversaw the placement of the restraint device and placed Moore in the solitary cell without obtaining a medical evaluation, even after Moore stated several times that he could not breathe. According to court documents, Case also sprayed Moore with pepper spray and helped place Moore in the restraint device and place him in the solitary cell. Brown allegedly placed the spit mask on Moore’s head despite knowing he had been pepper sprayed, according to court documents. According to court documents, Moore was fully cooperative and restrained at the time.
According to court documents, the mask was fitted incorrectly, which may have made it difficult for Moore to breathe, especially after he was pepper sprayed. In an interview, Brown did not admit to putting the mask on incorrectly but said he asked another employee to correct the mask, court documents say. Brown allegedly claimed there was no “best practice” for putting on the mask, even though the mask came with instructions that clearly stated that improper use could result in death by suffocation, court documents say. Brown allegedly described the proper fit in interviews, but video evidence shows he applied it improperly, court documents say.
Bradshaw was the highest-ranking staff member when Moore arrived at the solitary confinement cell, meaning Bradshaw had the key to Moore’s cell. Bradshaw allegedly stated in an interview that Moore was screaming and yelling when he arrived at the facility, and she allegedly said she couldn’t understand what he was saying. She allegedly said he could have said he couldn’t breathe or was in distress. Bradshaw said she knew Moore from previous encounters and didn’t believe he would make up medical problems, according to court documents.
According to the Cole County Prosecutor and previous KOMU 8 reports, several witnesses heard Moore pleading with correctional staff, telling them he couldn’t breathe.
Andrew M. Stroth of the Action Injury Law Group represents the Moore family and claimed in March that other inmates saw blood coming from Moore’s mouth and ears.
“Today is a historic day because five police officers have been criminally charged,” the civil rights attorney told KOMU 8 on Friday. “From our perspective, it’s George Floyd 3.0, in prison. We demand that all videos be released so that these officers are held accountable. There is a clear pattern of abuse, racism and brutality towards inmates. Othel Moore’s family does not want this to happen to anyone else.”
Bradshaw allegedly left the cell after Moore was locked in shackles in the solitary confinement cell and the staff member watching him had no way to check on him because the door was locked, court documents say. Bradshaw returned to the cell after 20 minutes so the nurse could check on Moore, at which point Moore was found unconscious, court documents say.
Moore was pronounced dead in a local hospital wing, according to the Cole County prosecutor. His death was ruled a homicide.
Moore was serving a 30-year prison sentence for domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance, robbery, armed criminal action and violence against an inmate or corrections employee.
The Department of Corrections has stopped using the restraint device used on Moore, according to a statement Friday. The statement said the device was designed to prevent injury to the person being restrained and to others.
At least three suspects have been arrested in the case. Leggins, Brown, Varner and Bradshaw are being held in the Cole County Jail, online records show. Leggins, Brown and Varner are being held without bail, and Bradshaw’s bail is set at $50,000.
Federal wrongful death lawsuit filed
Stroth’s law firm, Action Injury Law Group, along with the firm Hart McLaughlin and Eldridge, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday that names the former correctional officers as defendants. The lawsuit also names Anne Precythe, director of the Department of Corrections, and Doris Falkenrath, former director of the JCCC, as defendants.
The lawsuit alleges that Moore’s Eighth Amendment rights were violated by the actions of the five former officers, alleging that those actions included excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, conscious disregard for serious emergency situations, and failure to intervene.
The former officers are also accused of negligence, assault, battery and infliction of emotional harm.
The petition accuses Precythe and Falkenrath of deliberate indifference, breach of duty of care and lack of training.
“Anne Precythe and Doris Falkenrath have violated (Moore’s) constitutional rights … by establishing and maintaining policies, customs, practices, and/or procedures that they knew would deprive the inmates … of their constitutional rights,” the petition states.
“Specifically, the defendants had a policy, practice, or custom that permitted their officers, particularly the Correctional Emergency Response Teams, to use excessive and disproportionate force against inmates without just cause or provocation,” the petition continues. “The policy, practice, or custom involved a failure to adequately train, supervise, and control the actions of CERT officers, resulting in a foreseeable and direct violation of the constitutional rights of inmates under their care.”
The aim of the lawsuit is a jury trial to decide on compensatory and punitive damages for the defendants.
Falkenrath no longer works for the Department of Corrections and her last day of work was June 13, Karen Pojmann, the Department of Corrections’ communications director, confirmed to KOMU 8 on Friday afternoon. The measure was not the result of the wrongful death lawsuit, Pojmann confirmed.
