Two More West Virginia Jailers Plead Guilty in Detainee’s Homicide
Guilty pleas from two former guards at West Virginia’s Southern Regional Jail were filed on August 8, 2024, for their roles in the fatal beating of detainee Quantez Burks, 27, in May 2022. As PLN reported, two other former guards, Andrew Fleshman, 21, and Steven Nicholas Wimmer, 24, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to violating Burks’ civil rights when they joined six other guards to beat him in retaliation “for his earlier attempt to leave his assigned pod.” [See: PLN, May 2024, p.22.]
In the most recent pleas, former guards Ashley Toney, 24, and Jacob Boothe, 26, also admitted depriving Burks of his civil rights when they failed to intervene and protect him from the assault. Both are cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case against five remaining defendant former guards: Mark Holdren, 39; Cory Snyder, 29; Johnathan Walters, 35; Jacob Boothe, 25; and supervising Lt. Chad Lester, 33. See: United States v. Holdren, USDC (S.D.W.Va.), Case No. 5:23-cr-00188.
Burks had been held just one day on a wanton endangerment charge when guards handcuffed and beat him to death in an off-camera area of the jail on March 1, 2022. The state Department of Homeland Security (DHS) falsely reported that a medical examiner ruled Burks’ death was due to natural causes; when the autopsy report was finally released in September 2024, the death had been ruled a homicide.
“The death followed blunt impact injuries to the head, torso, and extremities, which occurred during a confrontation with correctional facility guards in the setting of abundant natural disease,” wrote Deputy Chief Medical Examiner W. Ashton Ennis, M.D. in his April 2022 report. Moreover, he added, Burks had earlier reported to jail medical staff that arresting cops from the Beckley Police Department (BPD) “whooped him pretty good.” The report quoted unnamed BPD arresting officers who advised the jail on their way to deliver Burks on February 28, 2022, that they were “bringing a [sic] uncooperative male in.”
But Ennis reported that Burks was cooperative during intake at the jail, contradicting a declaration by DHS immediately after his death that the detainee “was combative both during the admission process and later that evening,” as well as “again … around 10 a.m. the following morning,” when he “assault[ed] multiple staff while attempting to force his way out of the section” of the jail. Burks’ family claims he was merely trying to use a jail intercom to summon medical help at the time.
In a civil rights suit filed on his behalf, staffers with contracted healthcare provider PrimeCare Medical, were also accused in the conspiracy to cover up Burks’ fatal assault. Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys with Stephen New & Assoc. in Beckley and Harman Law Firm in Atlanta. See: Cooper v. PrimeCare Med., USDC (S.D.W.Va.), Case No. 5:24-cv-00083. That case and the criminal charges against the remaining former guards are proceeding toward trial. PLN will update developments as they are available.
Additional sources: CBS News, WVNS, West Virginia Metro News
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