Trial starts for only prison officer to not take plea in prisoner’s beating death
Only one of four state corrections officers charged with murdering a prisoner during a transfer to a North Florida state prison two years ago has not pleaded guilty to the crime and accepted a 20-year sentence.
And Wednesday morning, Ronald Connor’s attorney told the six jurors tasked with determining his fate why her client should not be incarcerated. The attorney said despite claims to the contrary from the convicted officers, Connor was trying to help Robert Gene Ingram get up from the ground after he was battered — not injure him.
“What happened to Mr. Ingram is not in dispute. What is in dispute, is who did that to Mr. Ingram,” Yanelis Zamora told the jurors during opening statements. “Mr. Connor comes in to try and get to Ingram to help him up.”
Jurors also heard lead state prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen explain how Ingram’s ribs were so badly crushed it appeared a car had run over him. And, he said, though investigators can’t pinpoint who struck the fatal blow, everyone who participated is responsible for the crime.
“There are no innocent witnesses,” VanderGiesen said. “Connor picked him up and threw him.”
The three other former state corrections officers who took plea deals — Kirk Walton, 36, Christopher Rolon, 31 and Jeremy Godbolt, 31 — are expected to testify against Connor, 26.
Tossed urine leads to a death
There’s no disputing that Ingram, 60, and a diagnosed schizophrenic, died after refusing to leave his cell at the Dade Correctional Institution, near Florida City, and tossing urine at Godbolt. What is in dispute came afterward.
It’s also ironic, VanderGiesen pointed out to jurors, that Ingram’s life was taken as he was being transferred to a North Florida prison that was supposed to provide him with better care.
“They were moving him to be better treated,” said the prosecutor. “He didn’t want to go.”
By all accounts, Ingram had refused to take his medication the night he was killed. And when Godbolt entered the prisoner’s cell to walk him to a transport van for the ride to North Florida, Ingram tossed urine at him. Angered, Godbolt radioed for help to get Ingram out of his cell. But the prisoner agreed to leave, his hands cuffed behind his back, after a senior officer talked with him.
Over the next few minutes, state prosecutors contend, several guards kicked and beat Ingram so severely — and purposely out of camera view — that they practically had to carry him outside to a bench before the ride.
The disagreement on Connor’s participation stemmed from about a 90-second span in a hallway without video cameras. There, investigators say, Ingram was punched and kicked after he fell to the ground. At one point, Connor, who was watching from the control room, walked over and lifted Ingram up.
The other guards say he lifted the 133-pound man over his head and slammed him to the ground. Connor and his attorney say he merely helped Ingram to his feet. Either way, the prisoner was helped outside and eventually placed in the van for transport. He was found dead in the back during a stop along the route.
Killed by blunt-force trauma
The Leesburg Medical Examiner said Ingram died of blunt-force trauma, suffering broken ribs and a punctured right lung that caused “extensive” internal bleeding. Ingram’s death was classified as a homicide. Connor was arrested several weeks after the other correction officers, when one of them mentioned his name to prosecutors.
Walton, Godbolt and Rolon were found guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, aggravated abuse of an elderly person and conspiracy to commit aggravated abuse of the elderly, cruel use of use-of-force and use-of-force while battering a detainee. Each was sentenced to 20 years.
Dade Correctional has been plagued by prisoner mistreatment and inmate deaths. The Miami Herald published investigations into the prison’s “transitional care unit,” where mentally ill inmates have complained about being refused food and laxatives placed in their urine and meals.
It’s also where Darren Rainey died in 2012 after being confined to a hot shower, a case detailed extensively by the Herald. Mortality records dating back less than a decade show there have been at least 99 deaths at facility, the vast majority listed as natural causes.
READ MORE: Graphic photos stir doubts about Darren Rainey’s ‘accidental’ prison death
