DOJ Case Summary: U.S. v. Marlowe
Between 2001 and 2003, Patrick Marlowe, Tommy (Shane) Conatser, Robert (Brian) Ferrell, Gary Hale, and Robert Locke (along with Travis Bradley, Christopher McCathern, John McKinney, and William Westmoreland) worked together as correctional officers on the evening shift at the Wilson County Jail in Lebanon, Tennessee. Marlowe was the evening shift supervisor and the remaining officers worked for him on the evening shift.
Over the course of these two years, Marlowe and his fellow evening shift officers routinely severely beat detainees, bragged about these assaults, and then covered them up by filing false reports and denying medical care to their victims. Marlowe was the leader of this conspiracy and committed most of the assaults, which tended to target recently arrested, intoxicated inmates who were disruptive and inmates who had committed some form of misconduct. Marlowe and his fellow officers treated these assaults as sport, and Marlowe kept a a "knock-out list" that included the names of at least 21 inmates he had beaten to the point of unconsciousness. Many of these inmates suffered serious injuries such as broken ribs and broken jaws, and one inmate required the surgical implantation of a metal plate into his face in place of several bones that were severely fractured during an assault by Marlowe.
On January 12, 2003, Marlowe and Hale severely beat a recently arrested detainee, Walter Kuntz. Kuntz was beaten multiple times, including repeated punches and kicks to his head and body, because he was yelling and making noise in his cell. After Kuntz slipped into a coma, Marlowe failed to call for medical care for several hours even though he was aware that Kuntz lay unconscious and vomiting on the floor of his cell. Kuntz eventually died from internal bleeding in his brain that was caused by these beatings and the delay in receiving medical care.
On July 23, 2004, a federal grand jury returned an indictment, charging Marlowe, Hale, Conatser, Ferrell, and Locke with violating 18 U.S.C. 241 (conspiracy against rights). Additionally, Marlowe was charged with violating seven counts of 18 U.S.C. 242 (deprivation of civil rights under color of law); Hale was charged with three counts of violating 242; Conatser and Ferrell were charged with two counts of violating 242; Locke was charged with one count of violating 242. Prior to indictment, fellow officers Bradley, McKinney, McCathern, and Westmoreland pled guilty to federal felony offenses related to their role in the assaults described in the indictment.
On December 28, 2005, Gary Hale entered a guilty plea to violating 18 U.S.C. 241, and on December 30, 2005, Robert Brian Ferrell pled guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 242. On March 31, 2006, Ferrell was sentenced to 12 months in prison and, on June 16, 2006, Gary Hale was sentenced to 108 months in prison.
On January 10, 2006, Marlowe, Conatser, and Locke went on trial. On January 26, 2006, a federal jury convicted Marlowe of two counts of violating 18 U.S.C. 242, for participating in the beating of Walter Kuntz and then denying him medical care. The jury further found that Marlowe’s failure to seek medical care resulted in Kuntz’s death. The jury also convicted Marlowe of four additional violations of 18 U.S.C. 242 for the beatings of four other detainees and acquitted him of charges pertaining to another beating. In addition, the jury convicted both Marlowe and Conatser of violating 18 U.S.C. 241 for conspiring together and with other jailers to assault detainees and then cover up their conduct with false reports.
Conatser was acquitted on two 242 charges, and Locke was acquitted.
On May 12, 2006, Conatser was sentenced to 70 months in prison and, on July 6, 2006, Marlowe was sentenced to life in prison.