JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri – Four former Missouri guards have pleaded not guilty to murder in death of a black man in prisonand a fifth pleaded not guilty to accessory to manslaughter.
Othel Moore Jr., 38, died on December 8 at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. A criminal complaint filed on Friday alleged that guards pepper-sprayed Moore, placed a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate.
Cole County Associate Judge Christopher Limbaugh on Monday refused to allow bail for three of the men charged with second-degree murder: Aaron Brown, Jacob Case and Justin Leggins. Gregory Varner, also charged with second-degree murder, is being held without bond. His hearing is scheduled for Wednesday. Each was fired after Moore’s death.
Cole County District Attorney Locke Thompson said Monday that Bryanne Bradshaw, charged with accessory to manslaughter, posted bond and was released from jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 30.
Moore was strip-searched and stripped to his boxer shorts inside his cell during a prison contraband sweep. He was then handcuffed behind his back and taken outside, according to a probable cause statement from deputies. Moore did not display aggression during the process and was complying with orders, investigators wrote.
While handcuffed outside his cell door, Moore was pepper-sprayed and then fitted with a hood, leg strap and restraint chair, according to Thompson’s office. The guards told investigators that Moore was not complying with orders to stay quiet and spit at them, although witnesses said Moore was spitting pepper spray out of his mouth.
Thompson said several people heard Moore say he couldn’t breathe and that the events were captured on the jail’s video surveillance system.
Moore was eventually taken to a hospital wing and pronounced dead. Thompson said the medical examiner determined Moore’s cause of death was positional asphyxiation, and his death was listed as a homicide.
Moore, who grew up in St. Louis, was serving a 30-year sentence on multiple charges, including second-degree domestic assault and first-degree robbery. His family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the defendants and the Missouri Department of Corrections on Friday.
The Department of Corrections released a statement saying it cooperated with the Cole County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation and made policy changes since Moore’s death.
Leggins and Brown told the judge Monday that they are still trying to hire private attorneys to represent them. No one immediately responded to an Associated Press Facebook message to a person associated with Leggins.
It’s unclear whether Varner and Bradshaw have hired lawyers: Missouri’s online court records system launched statewide on Monday, and the prison refused to allow the AP to speak with Varner. A phone message and email to contacts associated with Bradshaw were not immediately returned Monday.
Case said he has an attorney, but it is unclear who it is because of the interruption of court records.
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Researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.
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