A Federal jury found Ex Lucas County, Ohio Sheriff’s Sergeant John E Gray guilty on multiple charges of federal civil rights and records falsification violations, relating to the 2004 in-custody death of detainee Carlton Benton, at the Lucas County Jail, the Justice Department announced today.
A second man, former Lucas County Deputy Jay Schmeltz was convicted on a charge of filing a false report about the incident. Lucas County Sheriff James Telb and Internal Affairs Capt. Robert McBroom were acquitted on charges related to an alleged subsequent cover-up of the role that jail personnel played in Carlton Benton's.
“Six years after the death of Carlton Benton, a jury has heard the evidence and finally assigned accountability both for what happened that day in 2004,” said Steven Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “We accept today’s verdicts as the outcome of a fair trial at which the defendants got their day in court—an opportunity Carlton Benton never got.”
According to a Federal investigation and subsequent charges, on May 30, 2004, former Deputy John E. Gray assaulted detainee (Benton) in a cell at the Lucas County Jail and then left the detainee lying unconscious without seeking medical help for him. In an attempt to conceal the incident, Ex Deputy Gray and Ex Deputy Schmeltz wrote false reports and made false statements to the FBI.
Gray faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, and Schmeltz faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
