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Ex-New York prison guards found guilty of charges over 2013 beating

By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former New York state jail guards were found guilty by a Manhattan jury on Tuesday of federal charges related to the 2013 beating of an inmate who suffered life-threatening injuries, prosecutors announced.

Kathy Scott, 43, and George Santiago, 35, were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of the inmate, Kevin Moore, and falsifying records to cover up the beating, according to the office of acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim in Manhattan.

Lawyers for Scott and Santiago could not immediately be reached for comment.

Scott and Santiago, formerly correction officers at the Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York, were arrested in September 2016. A third former officer arrested at the time, Carson Morris, pleaded guilty earlier this month, according to prosecutors.

Two other ex-officers, Donald Cosman and Andrew Lowery, pleaded guilty in connection with the beating earlier in 2016 and cooperated with authorities.

Prosecutors said the Nov. 12, 2013, beating came after Moore, who was to be housed in the jail temporarily for one night, questioned why he needed to be confined in a unit for inmates with mental health issues.

Prosecutors said Santiago, Morris, Cosman and Lowery beat Moore with fists, boots and batons, while Scott, a sergeant, watched without doing anything to stop them.

Moore sustained five fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and facial fractures, as well as severe back, hand, leg and foot contusions, prosecutors said.

A clump of dreadlocks was ripped from his head, which one officer took as a “trophy,” the prosecutors said.

Moore was hospitalized for 17 days following the attack, according to prosecutors.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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