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| Marshals investigate how inmates beat witness |
| By Rocky Mountain News |
| Published: 08/01/2005 |
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The U.S. Marshal Service is investigating how two inmates were able to beat up a third prisoner in May while all three were waiting to testify in the federal courthouse in Denver, Colo. The three men had been brought to the courthouse to testify in the trial of two other inmates, Wendel Wardell Jr. and Carl Pursley Jr., who were accused of filing false income tax returns from prison. Wardell, Pursley and their two witnesses, Shawn Shields and Vernon Templeman, were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday in connection with the beating of the third inmate, who was a witness for the prosecution. The inmate who was beaten, whose name has not been made public, was treated at a hospital and released, said Ken Deal, chief deputy U.S. marshal for Colorado. Asked why inmates who were to testify for opposing sides in the trial were not kept apart, Deal said he could not comment. He also would not comment on how deputy marshals watch people in holding cells. The victim testified in the trial before he was beaten. The two inmates accused of beating him did not testify. The jury convicted Wardell and Pursley of filing false federal income tax returns from state prisons to net about $14,000 in refunds. The jury deliberated for about three days before finding Wardell guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, two counts of making false statements in tax returns and 15 counts of aiding and abetting the preparation of false tax returns. Pursley was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and two counts of aiding and abetting the preparation of false tax returns. U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn presided over the trial and scheduled sentencing in September. He is also assigned the criminal case against Wardell, Pursley, Shields and Templeman in the beating. The indictment said Wardell and Pursley told Shields and Templeman that the inmate who was to testify for the prosecution was "a 'rat,' meaning a prison inmate who testifies against one or more other inmates." |
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