Former West Virginia officers sentenced to decades in prison for their role in deadly inmate assault
When Burks tried to push past an officer to leave his housing unit, he was taken to an interview room where he was handcuffed and restrained while officers, including Holdren and Walters, assaulted him. Burks was struck in the head multiple times, kicked, and pepper-sprayed, according to the Justice Department. After the assault, Burks became unresponsive, so officers, including Walters, carried him to a different pod. Walters swung Burks' head into a metal door to open it, and the officers dropped his body onto a concrete cell floor. He was pronounced deceased a short time later by emergency medical personnel.
Along with their guilty pleas, Holdren and Walters admitted that the interview room where they took Burks had no surveillance cameras. They also knew that officers used this room and other blind spots in the jail to assault inmates accused of misconduct. Holdren and Walters are two of six correctional officers who were indicted in this case. They include ex-jail supervisor Chad Lester, who was sentenced in May to more than 17 years in federal prison for helping cover up the assault. Prior to the indictment of the six defendants, two other former correctional officers pleaded guilty to conspiring to use unreasonable force against Burks.
The state medical examiner's office attributed Burks' primary cause of death to natural causes, prompting his family to seek a private autopsy. The family's attorney revealed at a news conference in late 2022 that the second autopsy found Burks had multiple areas of blunt force trauma on his body. The case drew scrutiny to conditions and deaths at the jail, and in November 2023, West Virginia agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates there. In recommending a default judgment in the lawsuit, a federal magistrate judge cited the intentional destruction of records in the case. That led to the firing of former Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Executive Officer Brad Douglas and Homeland Security Chief Counsel Phil Sword.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
US arrests Iranian over alleged sanctions violations for tech exports
An Iranian man who is also a US permanent resident was arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly exporting 'sophisticated electronics' from the United States to Iran, thus violating Washington sanctions, the Department of Justice said. Bahram Mohammad Ostovari, 66, of Santa Monica and Tehran, was arrested Thursday afternoon upon his arrival at Los Angeles International Airport on charges of unlawfully exporting railway signaling and telecommunications equipment to Iran. According to the indictment, Ostovari is the founder and CEO of a Tehran-based engineering company that supplied signaling and communications systems to the Iranian government, including on projects for the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways. 'From at least May 2018 to July 2025, Ostovari and his co-conspirators obtained and shipped sophisticated computer processors, railway signaling equipment, and other electronics and electronic components to Company A in Iran,' said Friday's announcement from the Department of Justice. The indictment alleges Ostovari continued the illegal exports even after becoming a US lawful permanent resident in May 2020, and that he was aware of Washington's sanctions against Tehran. 'Ostovari knew of the US sanctions against Iran, mentioning them in emails to co-conspirators and directing one co-conspirator to provide false information to a federal export control officer regarding the end use of US-origin goods they had shipped to Company A in Iran,' the announcement said. If convicted, Ostovari -- who is charged under four counts of violating sanctions -- faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Furor over Epstein files sparks clash between Bondi and Bongino at the Justice Department
The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to contain the fallout and appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump's base after the administration's decision this week to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular sought-after document never existed in the first place, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House earlier this week that threatened to permanently shatter relations between the two officials and centered in part on a news story that described divisions between the FBI and the Justice Department. The cascade of disappointment and disbelief arising from the refusal to disclose additional, much-hyped records from the Epstein investigation underscores the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they themselves had stoked with claims of a cover-up and hidden evidence. Infuriated by the failure of officials to unlock, as promised, the secrets of the so-called 'deep state,' Trump supporters on the far right have grown restless and even demanded change at the top. Tensions that simmered for months boiled over on Monday when the Justice Department and FBI issued a two-page statement saying that they had concluded that Epstein did not possess a 'client list,' even though Bondi had intimated in February that such a document was sitting on her desk, and had decided against releasing any additional records from the investigation. The department did disclose a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself in jail, but even that raised the eyebrows of conspiracy theorists because of a missing minute in the recording. It was hardly the first time that Trump administration officials have failed to fulfill their pledge to deliver the evidence that supporters had come to expect. In February, conservative influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked 'The Epstein Files: Phase 1' and 'Declassified." But the binders contained information that had largely already been in the public domain. Afterward, Bondi said an FBI 'source' informed her of the existence of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents and ordered the bureau to provide the 'full and complete Epstein files.' She later said officials were poring over a 'truckload' of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI. But after a months-long review of evidence in the government's possession, the Justice Department determined in the memo Monday that no 'further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.' The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims, and 'only a fraction' of it 'would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.' The Trump administration had hoped that that statement would be the final word on the saga, with Trump chiding a reporter who asked Bondi about the Epstein case at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. But Bondi and Bongino had a tense exchange the following day at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation. Part of the clash centered on a story from the news organization NewsNation that cited a 'source close to the White House' as saying the FBI would have released the Epstein files months ago if it could have done so on its own. The story included statements from Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel refuting the premise, but not Bongino. The news publication Axios was first to describe the conversation. Blanche sought to stem the fallout Friday with a social media post in which he said he had worked closely with Patel and Bongino on the Epstein matter and the joint memo. 'All of us signed off on the contents of the memo and the conclusions stated in the memo. The suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo's composition and release is patently false,' he wrote on X. Also Friday, far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is close to Trump, posted on X that she was told that Bongino was 'seriously thinking about resigning' and had taken the day off to contemplate his future. Bongino is normally an active presence on social media but has been silent since Wednesday. The FBI did not respond to a request seeking comment, and the White House sought in a statement to minimize any tensions. 'President Trump has assembled a highly qualified and experienced law and order team dedicated to protecting Americans, holding criminals accountable, and delivering justice to victims,' said spokesman Harrison Fields. 'This work is being carried out seamlessly and with unity. Any attempt to sow division within this team is baseless and distracts from the real progress being made in restoring public safety and pursuing justice for all.'
Al Arabiya
6 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
One California worker dead, hundreds arrested after cannabis farm raid
A California farm worker died on Friday from injuries sustained a day earlier when US immigration agents raided a cannabis operation and arrested hundreds of workers, according to a farm worker advocacy group. Separately, a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt some of its most aggressive tactics in rounding up undocumented immigrants. Dozens of migrant-rights activists faced off with federal agents in rural Southern California on Thursday. It was the latest escalation of President Donald Trump's campaign for mass deportations of immigrants in the US illegally. His administration has made conflicting statements about whether immigration agents will target the farm labor workforce, about half of which is unauthorized to work in the US, according to government estimates. The Department of Homeland Security said approximately 200 people in the country illegally were arrested in the raid, which targeted two locations of the cannabis operation Glass House Farms. Agents also found 10 migrant minors at the farm, the department said in an emailed statement. The facility is under investigation for child labor violations, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott posted on X. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The scene at the farm on Thursday was chaotic, with federal agents in helmets and face masks using tear gas and smoke canisters on angry protesters, according to photos and videos of the scene. Several farm workers were injured and one died on Friday from injuries sustained after a 30-foot (9-meter) fall from a building during the raid, said Elizabeth Strater, national vice president of the United Farm Workers. The worker who died was identified as Jaime Alanis on a verified GoFundMe page created by his family, who said they were raising money to help his family and for his burial in Mexico. 'He was his family's provider. They took one of our family members. We need justice,' Alanis' family wrote on the GoFundMe page. US citizens were detained during the raid and some are still unaccounted for, Strater said. DHS said its agents were not responsible for the man's death, saying that 'although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a green house and fell 30 feet.' Agents immediately called for a medical evacuation, DHS said. Warnings on food supply California Rural Legal Assistance, which provides legal services and other support to farm workers, is working on picking up checks for detained Glass House workers, said directing attorney Angelica Preciado. Some Glass House workers detained during the raid were only able to call family members after they signed voluntary deportation orders, and were told they could be jailed for life because they worked at a cannabis facility, Preciado said. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin rejected those allegations, saying in an emailed statement that 'allegations that ICE or CBP agents denied detainees from calling legal assistance are unequivocally false.' Some citizen workers who were detained reported only being released from custody after deleting photos and videos of the raid from their phones, UFW President Teresa Romero said in a statement. 'These violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,' Romero said. Farm groups have warned that mass deportation of farm workers would cripple the country's food supply chain. In her most recent comments, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there would be 'no amnesty' for farm workers from deportation. Trump, though, has said migrant workers should be permitted to stay on farms. US District Court Judge Maame Frimpong granted two temporary restraining orders blocking the administration from detaining immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally based on racial profiling and from denying detained people the right to speak with a lawyer. The ruling, made in response to a lawsuit from immigration advocacy groups, says the administration is violating the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution by conducting 'roving patrols' to sweep up suspected undocumented immigrants based on their being Latinos, and then denying them access to lawyers. 'What the federal government would have this Court believe -in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case - is that none of this is actually happening,' Frimpong wrote in her ruling.
