Two former Tennessee Department of Corrections officers indicted on civil rights offenses
Two former tactical officers for the Tennessee Department of Corrections were indicted by a federal grand jury in Memphis.
The tactical officers were part of the Strike Force for TDOC. One of the officers, 36-year-old Javian Griffin, is charged with using unlawful force against an inmate and writing false reports about the incident at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee.
The other, 32-year-old Sebron Hollands, is charged with also writing false reports about the incident at the same facility.
The grand jury handed up the indictment on Friday.
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Griffin's alleged assault on the inmate took place on June 13, 2020, and the duo's alleged false reports were written the following day according to the indictment.
"...Javian Griffin, while acting under color of law as a Tactical Officer with the Tennessee Department of Corrections, willfully deprived K.W., an inmate at Northwest Correctional Complex, of the right, protected and secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment," the indictment read. "Specifically, defendant Griffin punched K.W. in the face, resulting in bodily injury to K.W.."
According to the indictment, Griffin "falsely claimed that K.W. became 'combatant'; falsely claimed that K.W. charged towards defendant Griffin; and falsely claimed that Griffin used soft hand techniques to control K.W.."
Hollands was indicted for repeating Griffin's account of the incident, and both are alleged to have omitted that a punch was thrown and that the inmate was injured by the punch.
If found guilty, Griffin would face a maximum of 30 years in prison and Hollands would face a maximum 20-year sentence.
The case was investigated by the FBI Memphis Field Office and is being prosecuted by David Pritchard, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee in Memphis.
According to court documents, both Griffin and Hollands entered not guilty pleas and made bond — which was set at $10,000 each. Their attorneys are set to appear before Chief Judge S. Thomas Anderson in Jackson, Tennessee.
Griffin will be represented by C. Mark Donahoe, a former assistant district attorney for the 4th Judicial District of Louisiana, from the Donahoe Firm in Jackson during the trial.
"In a grand jury, you're only hearing one side and they only hear the prosecution's side," Donahoe said. "So it'll be our turn to present our side to a regular jury in a courtroom. We have a lot of work to do, certainly some things that we're gonna want a jury to take a look at, and are looking forward to presenting this case to the jury."
Lucas Finton is a news reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TDOC officers indicted for violating civil rights in Tiptonville prison
