There were two more guilty pleas this week from former corrections officers charged in the 2022 death of an inmate at the Southern Regional Jail. That brings the total to four – with four others still facing charges.
The two ex-guards, Ashley Toney and Jacob Boothe, each pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of a 37-year-old African American inmate identified as QB.
U.S. Attorney Will Thompson of the Southern District of West Virginia said Toney and Boothe didn’t participate in, but did nothing to stop, a brutal beating that followed a minor infraction.
“The officers from the jail then took him into an interview room, where they knew that there was no cameras that would record any of their actions while he was in that interview room. They proceeded to beat him to death,” said Thompson.
“After the victim passed away, then there was a number of the officers that were involved, both in the beating and some that then participated in what I would characterize as a cover up, or an obstruction of justice, which was to keep the public and the officials with the state police and the FBI from knowing what truly happened,” he added.
Four other former corrections officials are still facing charges.
“Three of them are the ones who are, we allege, to have done the actual beating, and the fourth was a higher ranking guard at the jail at the time, and he orchestrated the cover up and the obstruction,” Thompson saidadded.
Though inmates don’t often get a lot of public sympathy, Thompson said, “They’re human beings. They do have certain civil rights. Those rights need to be protected. And the victim in this case certainly didn’t deserve to die. This was not a death sentence.”
Toney and Boothe pled guilty Friday in front of today U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin. They are expected to testify at the trial of their four former colleagues in October. Their sentencing hearings are scheduled for Nov. 4. They each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.For more information visit the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.
