Red-state justice in action

http://www.sunherald.com/388/story/122214.html

GULFPORT -- It was Feb. 4, 2006, the night before Super Bowl XL, when

Gulfport police arrested 40-year-old Jessie Lee Williams on misdemeanor

charges.

The ride in the back of a patrol car to the Harrison County jail would be

the last conscious ride of his life. Williams was headed for a deadly

encounter with a slap-happy jailer.

At the time, the public knew little about what happened to Williams in the

jail. How could he arrive without a scratch on him - according to his jail

booking photo - and then be hardly recognizable and brain dead hours later?

Today, we know Williams was cuffed with his hands behind his back, smacked

in the testicles, zapped with a Taser, squirted with pepper spray and

fatally beaten by jailer Ryan Teel.

On Monday, Feb. 6, family members decided to remove the breathing tubes that

were keeping Williams alive. He died in a bed at Memorial Hospital at

Gulfport.

Harrison County Sheriff George Payne initially told the Sun Herald his

jailers said they had no choice but to fight Williams.

"They pepper-sprayed him, and it didn't slow him down. It cranked him up

even higher, which it does when they're on crack or meth or something like

that," Payne said.

But that didn't last long. Medical reports from Memorial Hospital, obtained

three weeks after the attack, showed Williams tested negative for drugs. But

he was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital from the Harrison County

jail.

The night Williams died, Payne said he wasn't sure if the head injuries

occurred at the jail or before Williams arrived.

That was just about cleared up Feb. 21, when the Sun Herald first published

the photo of a beaten and lifeless Williams lying in a hospital bed. It was

then obvious Williams' mangled face didn't match the one in the booking

photo taken when he arrived at the jail.

Around that time officials clammed up. No one offered the public or

Williams' seven children anything close to an explanation. Payne began

referring all questions to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations.

Gulfport attorney Michael Crosby, who represents Williams' family, had

subpoenaed the surveillance tape made at the jail the night of the beating,

but Payne's lawyer filed court papers to stop the tape's release on Feb. 24.

Crosby would eventually file a $150 million wrongful-death lawsuit, naming

more than a dozen defendants including Teel.

Jail nurses, other employees and prisoners who were at the jail that night

slowly began coming forward and telling their stories.

More than a month went by and Payne and District Attorney Cono Caranna said

little to dispel the allegations that a law enforcement official had

savagely pummeled a man to death.

On March 6 - a month and two days after Williams was mauled into a coma -

Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove signed the death certificate, ruling

it a homicide.

Two days later, Ryan Teel resigned and the Sun Herald published the first

public statement made on the case from the district attorney, explaining why

justice was taking so long. Caranna said it was a prosecutor's duty "to be

absolutely certain of the accuracy and completeness of investigations."

Payne issued his own statement on March 9 through his lawyer, expressing his

"sincere regret (to the Williams family) for the remarks I made concerning

their loved one's possibly being under the influence of drugs. That

information was reported to me over the phone and was obviously incorrect."

The NAACP held its "And Justice for All" summit in Gulfport on March 23.

About 700 people attended and some of them gave sworn statements to lawyers

about abuse at the jail.

Former deputy Regina Rhodes, who was on duty the night of the jail beating,

was fired on April 11, 2006. No reason was given.

By April 20, more than 70 days since the attack, no one had been charged

with Williams' death.

On the 100th day after the booking-room beating more than 500 people

gathered on the lawn of the Harrison County Courthouse for a nighttime

vigil. Still no arrests had been made. A few days later, Caranna said his

office still planned to present its evidence to a grand jury.

Almost six months to the day Williams was beaten, Rhodes became the first

person officially blamed for his death. Federal prosecutors accused her of

using unreasonable force against Williams and then lying about it. Rhodes is

believed to have cut a deal with federal investigators sometime in August

2006.

Payne appointed Don Cabana, a former state prison official, as warden of the

Harrison County jail on Aug. 18. Later that month, U.S. Attorney Dunn

Lampton appointed Caranna as a special assistant prosecutor in the criminal

case the feds were building against the jailers.

On Aug. 28 the FBI arrested Teel on a two-count federal indictment in the

fatal beating.

Teel pleaded not guilty, but by December, Rhodes and two other jailers had

pleaded guilty to their involvement and vowed to cooperate with

investigators.

Teel was charged with conspiring with others, under color of law, to violate

inmates' rights. Not murder.

The Sun Herald filed a public records request with the Harrison County

Sheriff's Department on Dec. 19, seeking - among other things - the

booking-room surveillance footage.

By January, the number of jailers who had decided to plea and agreed to

cooperate with the feds was up to four. It would eventually climb to eight.

Teel, meanwhile, maintained his innocence.

In February, the Sun Herald filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi

Department of Public Safety, the Harrison County Sheriff's Department and

Sheriff Payne seeking access to public records involving prisoner-abuse

complaints at the jail.

That same month, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez decided against

seeking the death penalty for Teel after reviewing the case.

On March 23 former Sheriff's Capt. Rick Gaston was named in a five-count

indictment alleging a conspiracy to deprive Harrison County jail inmates of

their civil rights.

The Harrison County Board of Supervisors announced plans in July to borrow

money toward a $3.5 million settlement with Williams' estate. Gulfport also

announced a settlement. A few days earlier, a federal judge moved the

criminal trial away from Gulfport.

Payne issued a one-sentence apology on July 4 to the Williams family,

saying, "I truly want the Williams family to know that I am sorry for their

loss." Also in July the case made national headlines on CNN's "Anderson

Cooper 360."

Since Jessie Lee Williams Jr.'s death, his name has appeared in more than

230 news stories and editorials in the Sun Herald.

Gaston and Teel went on trial in federal court in Hattiesburg on Aug. 6, 18

months after Williams was pulled from life support at Memorial Hospital.

The following day, Payne lost his campaign for a third term.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Williams case timeline

List of key events in fatal booking-room beating.

2006

Feb. 4: Gulfport police arrest Jessie Lee Williams on misdemeanor charges.

Feb. 6: Williams is removed from life support.

March 2: Medical reports show Williams arrived at the hospital in a coma.

March 3: Jail nurses' notes describe the beating.

March 6: Coroner signs death certificate ruling it a homicide.

March 8: Jailer Ryan Teel resigns.

March 14: Attorney Michael W. Crosby files a $150 million wrongful-death

lawsuit for Williams' estate.

April 11: Jailer Regina Rhodes is terminated.

Aug. 7: The Sun Herald reports Rhodes has pleaded guilty to two felony

charges.

Aug. 28: Teel is arrested on a two-count indictment.

2007

Feb. 2: The Sun Herald files a lawsuit for access to public records on the

case.

Feb. 23: The Sun Herald reports U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez will

not seek the death penalty for Teel.

March 6: Teel is released to home confinement on a $250,000 bond to await

trial.

March 11: The state's law enforcement lobby persuades lawmakers to vote down

a civil rights bill prompted by the Williams beating.

March 23: Former Sheriff's Capt. Rick Gaston is indicted on conspiracy

charges.

May 14: A federal judge denies Teel's request for release from home

incarceration so he can work.

June 28: A federal judge moves the trial to Hattiesburg.

July 4: Sheriff George H. Payne apologizes to the Williams family.

Aug. 1: Karl Stolze becomes the last of eight former jailers to plead guilty

and agree to cooperate with the feds in exchange for a lighter prison

sentence.

Aug. 6: An all-white jury is selected for the trial of Teel and Gaston.

Aug. 7: Payne loses election bid for third term as sheriff.

Aug. 8: Videotape of booking-room beating plays for first time in court.

Aug.16: Teel found guilty on three counts; Gaston found not guilty on all

counts.

"Deus Ex Machina" <euripides@tragedy.net> wrote in message

news:fa86j001gnh@news2.newsguy.com...

> http://www.sunherald.com/388/story/122214.html

> GULFPORT -- It was Feb. 4, 2006, the night before Super Bowl XL, when

> Gulfport police arrested 40-year-old Jessie Lee Williams on misdemeanor

> charges.

> The ride in the back of a patrol car to the Harrison County jail would be

> the last conscious ride of his life. Williams was headed for a deadly

> encounter with a slap-happy jailer.

Sounds like the ****** got the beating he deserved.

Teel: "I Felt My Life Was At Risk From Jessie Lee Williams"

http://www.wlox.com/global/story.asp?s=6929549