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| Two COs accused of beating gay inmate |
| By AL.com |
| Published: 11/15/2004 |
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Two former Mobile County (Ala.) Metro Jail corrections officers are accused of beating a man at the jail in March because he was a homosexual, authorities said. Jamie Godsey, 33, and Sean Etheredge, 23, both of the Mobile area, were arrested in July and charged with third-degree assault for allegedly beating Jason Payne, 26, Mobile County court records show. "The allegation from the victim is they attacked him because he was homosexual," Nicki Patterson, Mobile County's chief assistant district attorney, said Nov. 5. Third-degree assault is a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail. Patterson said Payne suffered a black eye during the alleged attack. She said he was treated and released from the University of South Alabama Medical Center. Christina Bowersox, Mobile County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, said the department's criminal investigation and internal affairs divisions investigated the incident. As a result, Godsey was fired and Etheredge resigned, she said Nov. 5. According to Patterson, one or both of the corrections officers had harassed Payne about his sexual orientation sometime prior to the alleged attack. The day Payne was injured he was in his cell yelling at one or both of the men later accused of beating him, Patterson said. Instead of notifying their supervisors about the problem, "a fight breaks out in the cell and in the process the victim (Payne) is injured," Patterson said. Mobile County Sheriff Jack Tillman said that the investigation was handled properly by his department. Mobile County Court records show that Etheredge is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 22. Payne is serving a life sentence at the Fountain Correctional Facility near Atmore, Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said. Payne, however, is back in Metro Jail on a third-degree assault charge, jail records show. |
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