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| Ex-deputy convicted in inmate assault |
| By Birmingham News |
| Published: 06/25/2004 |
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A former Jefferson County (Ala.) sheriff deputy was convicted of misdemeanor assault and sentenced to six months in jail Thursday for attacking a jail inmate last December. Antonio Allums was fired in March after an internal investigation showed he choked and slammed the head of inmate Michael Boler against a glass window at the county jail Dec. 10. An attorney for Allums said there will be an appeal. Three deputies working in the jail that night submitted reports that said Boler tried to attack another deputy. The deputies later admitted to lying about the incident because they wanted to help Allums. Testimony Thursday was that Boler was not the aggressor and that Allums attacked him. During trial before District Judge Sheldon Watkins on Thursday, Sgt. Emma Moore said she investigated the case after Boler and his mother filed complaints. Two inmates and a deputy testified they saw Allums attack Boler, who suffered two eye lacerations, a busted lip, loose teeth and an almost-broken nose. Allums denied the accusations, saying a boisterous Boler scuffled with a deputy on the jail's seventh floor. When the deputy failed to handcuff Boler, Allums said he called a Code Blue, a call for assistance. Allums said he never had any contact with Boler during the altercation and only witnessed it from afar in the jail's control room. Prosecutor Gina Levert asked Allums why several other witnesses said they saw him attack Boler. Allums said: "I can't say what their eyes see - only my eyes." Defense attorney Erskine Mathis said there were contradictions in testimony and suggested the deputies were lying. Allums is a seven-year department veteran who worked with the warrant detail but was working in the jail that night for overtime. Watkins said after trial testimony was quite clear that Allums assaulted Boler. Watkins also fined Allums $500. |
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