4 Missouri prison guards charged with murder, 5th with manslaughter, in death of Black man

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Four Missouri prison guards were charged Friday with murder, and a fifth with accessory to involuntary manslaughter, in the December death of a Black man who was pepper sprayed, had his face covered with a mask and was left in a position that caused him to suffocate while in custody at a correctional facility, according to a complaint filed Friday.

A group of guards making up the Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team was sweeping one of the housing units for contraband on Dec. 8, 2023, when Othel Moore Jr., 38, was pepper sprayed twice, then put in a spit hood, leg wrap and restraint chair, according to a news release from Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson.

Moore was then moved to a separate housing unit, where he was left in the hood, wrap and chair for 30 minutes. Thompson said multiple people heard him saying he couldn’t breathe. Moore was eventually taken to a hospital wing and was pronounced dead.

Thompson said the medical examiner ruled Moore’s cause of death was from positional asphyxiation, and his death was listed as a homicide. He confirmed the events were captured on the prison’s video surveillance system.

“After sitting down and reviewing all evidence, the dozens and dozens of interviews, all the reports, we determined that charges were appropriate,” Thompson told The Associated Press.

An attorney for Moore’s family, Andrew Stroth, has said Moore had blood coming out of his ears and nose.

“There’s a system, pattern and practice of racist and unconstitutional abuse in the Missouri Department of Corrections, and especially within the Jefferson City Correction Center,” Stroth said, adding: “It’s George Floyd 3.0 in a prison.”

The complaint charges Justin Leggins, Jacob Case, Aaron Brown and Gregory Varner each with one count of second-degree murder and with one count of being an accessory to second-degree assault. A fifth guard, Bryanne Bradshaw, is charged with one count of accessory to involuntary manslaughter.

Leggins and Case pepper-sprayed Moore, and Brown placed a mask over his face, the charging document said. Varner and Bradshaw left Moore in a position that caused his asphyxiation, the complaint said.

Those charged with felony murder could face between 10 and 30 years in prison, Thompson said.

Lawyers for Moore’s mother and sister filed a lawsuit Friday against the officers and the Department of Corrections.

The Moore family’s lawyers described the Corrections Emergency Response Team as “a group that uses coercive measures to brutalize, intimidate and threaten inmates” in a copy of the lawsuit provided to AP.

“This attack on Othel Moore, Jr. was not an isolated occurrence, but rather the manifestation of a barbarous pattern and practice, fostered by the highest-ranking members of the Missouri Department of Corrections,” lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.

The Missouri Department of Corrections released a statement Friday saying Moore died in a restraint system designed to prevent injury to himself and others, and that the department has discontinued using that system.

The corrections department also said after the criminal investigation and its own internal review, 10 people involved in the incident “are no longer employed by the department or its contractors.”

The department said it “will not tolerate behaviors or conditions that endanger the wellbeing of Missourians working or living in our facilities. The department has begun implementing body-worn cameras in restrictive-housing units at maximum-security facilities, starting with Jefferson City Correctional Center, to bolster both security and accountability.”

Oriel Moore, Othel Moore’s sister, said her family never had a chance to see Othel Moore outside of prison after his childhood, adding to their heartbreak.

“He won’t get to live his life, he doesn’t even know what it is to be a grown man because he’s been in there since he was a kid,” Moore said. “He had plans. He wanted to be a productive member of society. He matters. His life matters.”

Moore, who grew up in St. Louis, was serving a 30-year sentence on a range of charges.

Thompson said he had heard only one of the five defendants, Jacob Case, had hired an attorney, but he could not identify that attorney. A voice message requesting comment from the corrections officers union was not immediately returned Friday.