Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill will be arraigned Thursday on new federal charges he violated the civil rights of additional jail detainees by strapping them in restraining chairs.
In a superseding indictment filed earlier this month, prosecutors allege two men were bound to the devices in separate incidences after running afoul of the controversial lawman when he questioned them in their cells.
It was the second superseding indictment filed against Hill since he was first indicted on the federal charges in April. The additional charges brings to seven the number of men who allege he violated their civil rights, including a detainee who was strapped in the chair at age 17 and a Butts County landscaper who was bound allegedly after arguing with Hill over work he did for a Clayton Sheriff’s deputy.
Hill has pleaded not guilty to the accusations. He remains out on bond. Drew Findling, Hill’s attorney, did not immediately return a request for comment on the new felony criminal charges.
Hill was suspended by Gov. Brian Kemp in June after a panel concluded the sheriff, who won reelection in 2020, could not do his job while under indictment.
The sheriff appealed to the state Supreme Court in early February to have his suspension overturned after a Fulton County Superior Court denied the same request in December. The Supreme Court transferred Hill’s request to the Court of Appeals in mid-February citing jurisdictional issues.
In the new superseding document, filed March 16, the grand jury alleged Hill is accused of directly playing a role in each detainee being strapped to the restraining chair. It also re-alleges its charges in the cases of the five other detainees from previous indictments.
In the new indictment, a detainee, identified only as “R.P.,” was jailed in Clayton in December 2019 after being accused of pointing a gun at two men outside his Jonesboro home. After being placed in a holding cell, Hill is alleged to have said, “B____, you point a gun at someone?” When R.P. denied the accusation, Hill ordered jail staff to put him in the chair, the indictment said.
“R.P.” alleged he was left restrained for hours and eventually urinated on the chair, the indictment said.
Another detainee, “D.B.,” was arrested in February 2020 for possessing marijuana, heroin, ecstasy in pill form and illegal firearms at his Hampton home. He alleged that Hill came to his cell after he was detained and began asking him about the drug and firearm accusations, the indictment said.
When “D.B.” told Hill he didn’t want to talk to him, Hill is alleged to have sent him to the restraint chair, the indictment said.
Both detainees were compliant at the jail, the indictment said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell Vineyard will hear the allegations during Thursday’s 10 a.m. arraignment.
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