Criminal Law
Detainees Testify Against a Georgia Sheriff in Rights Abuse Trial
Two former jail detainees testified that deputies of a Georgia sheriff charged with violating their civil rights kept them in restraint chairs for hours, causing them to urinate on themselves while they were bound.
“It felt horrible,” one of the men, Joseph Harper, told a jury Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. “I had to use the bathroom on myself twice. I couldn’t hold it.”
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill is standing trial on federal charges that he violated the rights of seven detainees. Prosecutors say their placement in restraint chairs was unnecessary, was improperly used as punishment and caused pain and bodily injury.
