Maryland inmate sentenced for trying to choke correctional officer

A Maryland inmate was sentenced to four more years in state prison for trying to choke a correctional officer during a prison-yard fight at Roxbury Correctional Institution south of Hagerstown last summer, according to court documents.

Washington County District Court Judge Mark D. Thomas sentenced Devahn McFadden, 30, to four years in state prison, consecutive to any other time he's serving, after finding McFadden guilty of second-degree assault against a Division of Corrections employee during a July 26 trial, according to court records.

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Assistant State's Attorney Cyrus Jaghoory, in an email, said he asked the judge to give McFadden a four-year sentence.

The maximum prison-sentence for second-degree assault against a correctional officer is 10 years.

Assistant Public Defender Matthew Bronson will be filing an appeal on behalf of McFadden, according to an email from Melissa Rothstein, spokeswoman for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender. Rothstein wrote that Bronson did not have further comment at this time.

A count of first-degree assault against a Division of Corrections employee was previously dismissed against McFadden in this case.

McFadden is one of five inmates who was charged after a fight broke out in the yard at RCI, along Roxbury Road, on July 17 last year.

The five inmates were transferred to state prisons near Cumberland, Md., following the incident, court records state. Those prisons have maximum security, whereas RCI and the other two state prisons south of Hagerstown have medium security.

The incident led to four officers "requiring nonemergency medical evaluation," court records state. Charging documents describe fights in which at least five prison officers were assaulted.

Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, has previously said he believes only three officers went to Meritus Medical Center as a precaution. It's possible a fourth officer went to a medical provider on their own.

Status of other defendants' cases in Maryland prison yard fight

McFadden is the third inmate in the case who has been sentenced.

Avon Taylor, 36, and Franklin Evans, 32, were both sentenced to an additional 18 months in state prison in April after pleading guilty to second-degree assault of a Division of Corrections employee.

Christopher Firor, 40, faces two counts of second-degree assault on a corrections employee, while Dominetreous Anthony, 36, faces one count on that charge.

Firor's and Anthony's trials are scheduled for mid-September in District Court.

The prison-yard fight

Assistant State's Attorney Dakota Parrish said previously that the July 17 incident began when a sixth inmate was noncompliant and struggled with officers when there was an attempt to handcuff him.

Then Evans, McFadden, Anthony and Taylor "engage with staff in an aggressive" manner, charging documents state.

Evans struck a lieutenant in the head and face several times, starting a larger fight, Parrish said during Evans' hearing in April. Evans fought with the lieutenant until staff got control of Evans.

As a correctional officer tried to secure Anthony, Anthony refused to be cuffed and started pulling away from the officer and turned to allegedly strike the officer, according to charging documents. Taylor approached the same officer from behind and started hitting him in the back, knocking him down.

Inmates then began kicking that officer while he was on the ground, court records state.

A correctional officer, trying to follow orders and handcuff McFadden, grabbed the inmate from behind and McFadden turned and started to pull away, charging documents state. The two fell to the ground and McFadden wrapped his arm around the officer's neck and tried to choke him. The officer told an investigator he started to hit McFadden because he was losing his breath, records state. Another officer responded and they cuffed McFadden.

Firor is accused of jumping on the lieutenant, knocking him and a sergeant to the ground, court records state.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Maryland inmate sentenced for trying to choke RCI correctional officer