TWO FORMER CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS CHARGED IN INMATE ASSAULT CASE

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Indictment Charges Two Former Maryland Correctional Officers in Relation to an Assault of an Inmate

A third indictment, this time charging two former officers at Roxbury Correctional Institution (RCI), was returned today, in relation to assaults of an inmate, identified as K.D., and subsequent obstruction of justice, announced Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. On Feb. 26, 2013, a grand jury returned two indictments charging a total of nine current or former RCI officers with two subsequent assaults of the same inmate, K.D.

In the indictment returned today, former RCI Lieutenant Robert Harvey and former Correctional Officer Keith Morris are charged with a civil rights offense for their alleged assault on K.D., an inmate, during the 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift on March 8, 2013. Harvey also faces an obstruction of justice charge for allegedly filing a false report related to the assault.

Harvey faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and Morris faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison.

These indictments bring the total number of individuals charged in relation to this case to 14. Including today’s charges, seven current or former RCI officers have been charged with a civil rights offense for their alleged involvement in a series of assaults on K.D. Two former RCI officers, Dustin Norris and Philip Mayo, recently entered guilty pleas acknowledging that they conspired with other officers to assault K.D. Ten current or former RCI officers have been charged with conspiracy or obstruction offenses for their alleged efforts to cover up staff involvement in the assaults on K.D. Ryan Lohr, a former RCI officer, previously entered a guilty plea admitting that he conspired with other officers to obstruct the investigation into an assault on K.D.

These three cases, which are ongoing, are being investigated by the Frederick Resident Agency of the FBI, and are being prosecuted by Special Litigation Counsel Forrest Christian and Trial Attorney Sanjay Patel of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, with the assistance of P. Michael Cunningham of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.