CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former correctional officer in southern West Virginia pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal civil rights violation in the death of a man who died less than a day after being booked into a jail.
Mark Holdren entered a plea agreement in U.S. District Court in which he admitted conspiring with other officers to beat Quantez Burks as retaliation at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver.
Holdren was among five ex-correctional officers and a former lieutenant at the jail who were indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023, the same month that two other former jail officers entered guilty pleas in the beating.
Burks, 37, was booked into the jail on a wanton endangerment charge in March 2022. According to court documents, Burks tried to push past an officer to leave his housing unit. Burks then was escorted to an interview room where correctional officers were accused of striking him while he was restrained and handcuffed.
Holdren admitted to his role in the assault, knew that the interview room had no surveillance cameras and was aware that inmates and pretrial detainees who had engaged in misconduct had previously been brought to the room to enable officers to use unreasonable force without being caught on video, according to court documents. Holdren also admitted he knew it was improper for officers to use such force to punish inmates and pretrial detainees.
Holdren faces up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. No sentencing date was immediately announced.
Two other former officers, Ashley Toney and Jacob Boothe, face sentencing in January for their guilty pleas to violating Burks' civil rights by failing to intervene in the assault. Ex-officers Steven Wimmer and Andrew Fleshman are set for sentencing in February after pleading guilty last year to a felony conspiracy charge. Trial for the remaining three defendants is scheduled for Dec. 10.
The case has drawn scrutiny to conditions and deaths at the Southern Regional Jail. Last year, West Virginia agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates who described conditions at the jail as inhumane. The 2022 lawsuit filed on behalf of current and former inmates cited such complaints as a lack of access to water and food at the facility, as well as overcrowding and fights that were allowed to continue until someone was injured.
Gov. Jim Justice’s administration fired former Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Executive Officer Brad Douglas and Homeland Security Chief Counsel Phil Sword after a federal magistrate judge cited the “intentional” destruction of records in recommending a default judgment in the lawsuit. That followed a hearing in October 2023 in which former and current corrections officials, including some defendants in the lawsuit, said no steps had been taken to preserve evidence at the jail, including emails and documents.
The state medical examiner’s office attributed Burks’ primary cause of death to natural causes, prompting the family to have a private autopsy conducted. The family’s attorney revealed at a news conference in 2022 that the second autopsy found Burks had multiple areas of blunt force trauma on his body.
FILE - The Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, W.Va., is seen in this undated photo. (Rick Barbero/The Register-Herald via AP, File)
TURIN, Italy (AP) — There “could have been better communication” in explaining the rules involved in Jannik Sinner's doping case, ATP Tour chairman Andrea Gaudenzi acknowledged Thursday.
However, Gaudenzi said at the ATP Finals that anyone hinting that a “double standard” was applied because of top-ranked Sinner’s status is “unfair because the rules have been the same.”
Sinner is playing at home this week for the first time since it was announced before his U.S. Open title that he tested positive for an anabolic steroid in two separate drug tests in March.
The case wasn't made public until August.
“I learned the day before we all learned,” Gaudenzi said in his first public comments on the case. He spoke in a round-table discussion with international reporters.
“And to be honest, I’m happy about that. I really thank the ITA (International Testing Agency) and our representatives there for intentionally keeping me and our entire team in the dark because that’s how it should be.
“It should be completely independent and that was agreed by the (parties). It was a shock, but obviously comforted by the evidence afterward.”
A decision by an independent tribunal to clear Sinner of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in September and the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected to make a final ruling on the case early next year.
Sinner’s explanation was that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.
WADA is seeking a ban of one to two years for Sinner.
“We are completely external and it’s (an) independent process,” Gaudenzi said. “I generally think has been a fair process. It was really done by the book and by the rules. Maybe there could have been better communication in explaining those rules, and that is something that I would urge every party involved to work better in the next time.”
Gaudenzi said he plans to announce on Sunday the future host of the ATP Finals. The contract with Turin expires next year and there is an option to move the event to nearby Milan at a bigger arena being built for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“We are all super happy with what’s happened here in Turin and of course we’ve been a bit lucky with the players in Italy,” Gaudenzi said. "It's not only Jannik but also Matteo Berrettini played the first edition. Nobody could foresee that.
“We knew we were going to a tennis country,” said Gaudenzi, who is Italian and a former pro player. “(Finals) should definitely go in a market that loves tennis. ... It’s obviously going to get better if you have a local hero, no doubt.”
Gaudenzi does not want to move the finals too far away geographically from the previous stop on the circuit, the Paris Masters.
“We want to try to avoid the players to fly around the world," he said, “because they do enough traveling all over throughout the year.”
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
United States' Taylor Fritz serves the ball to Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
United States' Taylor Fritz, right, and Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
United States' Taylor Fritz, bottom, returns the ball to Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
United States' Taylor Fritz returns the ball to Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
United States' Taylor Fritz, right, serves the ball to Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
United States' Taylor Fritz serves the ball to Australia's Alex de Minaur during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Italy's Jannik Sinner holds the trophy as ATP world best player at the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. Sinner was presented with the trophy for finishing the year ranked No. 1. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Italy's Jannik Sinner holds the trophy as ATP world best player at the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. Sinner was presented with the trophy for finishing the year ranked No. 1. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Italy's Jannik Sinner returns the ball to United States' Taylor Fritz during their singles tennis match of the ATP World Tour Finals at the Inalpi Arena, in Turin, Italy, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
