Bryan Brunsting, 31, and Jason Branum, 35, both received prison sentences Monday after a jury in May found them guilty of conspiracy to violate an inmate’s civil rights, depriving him of his civil rights under color of authority and falsifying records after beating a mentally ill inmate then covering it up.
Brunsting was sentenced to 21 months in prison while Branum received five months. Both men were facing as many as 40 years in prison, but the sentences were lessened when a deal was made with Brunsting’s attorneys, dropping civil rights charges in exchange for the judge being allowed to consider the nature of his conduct while sentencing, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The case against Brunsting and Branum was dependent on the testimony of former sheriff’s department recruit Joshua Sather. When Sather came to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, he was considered an “honor recruit” who was at the top of his graduating class in the police academy, according to the Times.
Sather was under Brunsting’s supervision when he began as a recruit with the department. However, he claims that on March 22, 2010, things took a turn. While at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, Sather was summoned by Brunsting who explained that an inmate, Philip Jones, had left his cell and was disrespectful to a staff member.
“We’re going to teach him a lesson,” Brunsting said, according to Sather’s testimony. They then went to a locked hallway that lacked surveillance.
Sather claimed that he initially tackled Jones and punched him but stopped when he saw that Jones was not resisting. However, according to his testimony, other deputies began attacking Jones while he allegedly was curled on the ground, screaming and crying.
“They kicked him, struck him, sprayed him with OC (pepper) spray,” Assistant US Attorney Lindsey Greer Dotson asserted. Jones suffers from schizophrenia and hears voices, according to KNTV. He did not testify at the trial.
When it was over, the deputies allegedly agreed to claim that Jones was combative in order to justify the use of force. Sather resigned just a few days after and went to work in oil fields in Colorado, the LAist reported.