A former state prison sergeant has been convicted of assaulting an inmate with a baton.
On Tuesday, a Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff jury convicted Joe L. Binder, 60, of first-degree assault.
Binder’s trial started last week before Circuit Judge David Carpenter. The jury began deliberations on Friday, resumed them Monday, and returned the guilty judgment shortly before noon today.
Binder will be sentenced on June 4. After his conviction, he was booked into Jefferson County Jail.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Kaemi Calderon Velez, while Brent Butler was represented by Birmingham attorney Scott Morro.
Morro said Binder was wrongfully convicted, that the defense demonstrated that the inmate lied about what transpired, and that there was no blood proof.
He stated that his client’s safety is jeopardized while in jail.
The incident occurred on January 30, 2021, at William Donaldson Correctional Facility, sending two convicts, including Ephan Moore, to the hospital with injuries. The other convict hurt was Robert Earl Council, a well-known prison activist.
Binder and two other ADOC correctional officers, two of whom were injured during the confrontation, were immediately placed on leave and ultimately charged with first-degree assault against Moore.
The other two cops charged Cordaro Melton (38) and Daryl Brown (40). They have not yet gone to trial.
Binder, the supervisor, was sacked. Melton and Brown resigned.
According to the Associated Press, videos surfaced on social media showing a considerable amount of blood on the prison floor and convicts coughing due to lingering pepper spray, or another chemical agent, in the air.
The FBI was brought in to assist with the inquiry.
The incident spurred officials to make ADOC supervisors wear body cameras while on duty.
Moore, 33, of Mobile, pled guilty in 2013 to first-degree robbery in Dale County and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was detained at Donaldson when the brawl broke out on Saturday.
Following the jail altercation, Moore was charged with second-degree assault on a law enforcement official for stabbing Brown with an inmate knife. Moore pleaded guilty to the offense and was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison, concurrent with his robbery sentence.
Moore, who testified last week in Binder’s trial, is now being housed at the Limestone Correctional Facility.
