A federal judge will hear arguments later this month that Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill did not “have fair warning” that the use of restraint chairs on detainees was criminal.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Bly granted Hill a Nov. 29 hearing on Hill’s motion to dismiss this spring’s federal indictment on five charges of violating the civil rights of detainees at the Clayton County Jail.
The indictment alleges Hill and his deputies strapped detainees in chairs as punishment, which would be a civil rights violation. The only lawful use of the chairs is as a way to prevent detainees from injuring themselves or others.
Prosecutors argue the detainees were cooperative and non-violent in each case.
Hill has denied the charges, but was suspended from duty by Gov. Brian Kemp in June after a three-person panel determined the sheriff could not do his job while under indictment.
In his request for dismissal of the indictment, which was filed in July, Hill argued he was not aware that his use of restraints violated the law. He also said he should have been given “fair warning” that what he was doing was criminal.
Later in August, Hill filed an amended dismissal request, insisting that he should not be charged in the alleged beating of a detainee with the initials “W.T.,” who was one of the five detainees in the indictment. The alleged victim said he was struck by what he believed to be a fist while strapped to a restraining chair, but did not accuse Hill of participating in or directing the act.
Prosecutors countered both arguments. They said Hill approved the jail’s “restraint chair use” guidelines, which included language prohibiting their use as punishment.
“Consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, the CCSO policy emphasized that use of the restraint chair ‘will never be authorized as a form of punishment,’” federal authorities said. “Nevertheless, Hill caused five pretrial detainees at the jail to be strapped into restraint chairs and left there for hours even though they posed no threat to anyone.”
The prosecutors also said even if Hill did not participate in the alleged beating of “W.T.,” jurors “are entitled to know how the victims were treated at Hill’s orders and/or in his presence when they evaluate whether he violated the victims’ constitutional rights.”
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