Posted on 08/29/2002 8:50:50 PM PDT by scab4faa
Convict Struck Witness In Face, Breaking His Nose Posted: 8:08 a.m. MDT August 29, 2002 Updated: 8:53 a.m. MDT August 29, 2002
DENVER -- A man who testified against a suspect who allegedly killed his two friends was beaten and bloodied Monday after he was mistakenly placed in the same jail cell as the alleged killer.
Witness Martin Brewer, 21, of Aurora and Edward Brown, who is serving life sentences, were in the cell at the Arapahoe County jail with several inmates awaiting transport to state prison.
Brown "allegedly struck Brewer in the face," breaking the witness' nose and blackening his eye, Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Wednesday.
During the fight Brown, 21, broke his right hand.
The men were together for about 10 minutes, Robinson said, and were pulled apart as soon as deputies realized a fight had broken out.
A court order had prohibited contact between the witness and the defendant.
The witness' jail records clearly referenced the order, but a deputy apparently missed it.
"It was an error on the part of one of our deputies," Robinson said.
Brewer, the witness, was in jail on a probation violation in a 1999 marijuana case. He was being held until he could be transferred to state prison to serve a four-year term imposed earlier this month.
In June 2001, Brewer witnessed two of his friends, DeMarco Taylor and Lamont Monroe, die a day apart.
Police say Brown, a Compton Crips member, killed Taylor on June 1, 2001, because he believed Taylor had implicated him in a shooting death earlier that year.
Brown has pleaded guilty in both those cases and is serving life sentences. He continues to fight first-degree murder charges in an unrelated Adams County homicide and in the death of Lamont Monroe, who was killed the day after Taylor.
Brewer was prepared to testify against Brown in the Taylor case and remains a potential witness against him and another suspect, Joshua Swan, in the Monroe case.
Robinson declined to release the name of the deputy until an internal investigation is completed.
Not The First Time The blunder is the second of its kind in Arapahoe County in less than six months.
In February, a 16-year-old girl was placed in a cell with a serial rape suspect. The teen alleged that the rape suspect, Gerald Lewis, fondled her, but she later recanted.
"Obviously, I'm very concerned," Robinson said. "The deputies have a responsibility to ensure the rules of our facility are followed. Once again, we've had a case either of laziness or inattentiveness to duty."
In the February case, two Arapahoe County deputies were suspended, without pay, for 40 hours and put on a year's probation for a mix-up. A third deputy was suspended for 20 hours and placed on probation for a year in connection with the same incident.
Shortly thereafter the sheriff's office also said that changes have been made in detention facility procedures to make sure that mix-ups like that wouldn't happen.
??? What is wrong with these people? A 16 yo girl in a cell with men?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.