The Justice Department announced today that former Bryan County, Okla.,
Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Kevin Bennett Holt, 48, from Achille, Okla.,
was sentenced to 18 months in the custody of the Federal Bureau of
Prisons, followed by 24 months of supervised release, for using a Taser
to assault a detainee inside of the Bryan County Jail in Durant, Okla.,
in violation of the victim’s civil rights.
The defendant pleaded guilty on May 1, 2012.
During the plea hearing and in the plea documents, Holt
admitted that he intentionally used unreasonable force on a detainee
when he electronically shocked the detainee by using a Taser device
while the detainee was strapped into a restraint chair. The defendant
also admitted that his unlawful Taser deployment injured the victim.
“Excessive force by officers sworn to respect and uphold the law
undermines our criminal justice system,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant
Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
“The federal government is committed to prosecuting officers who abuse the authority entrusted to them.”
This case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Trial
Attorney Nicole Lee Ndumele of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant
U.S. Attorney Gregory Dean Burris from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
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