An interesting twist occurred this week with the federal four-count indictment against Clayton County’s controversial Sheriff Victor Hill. Lynsey M. Barron, a former federal prosecutor, who worked in the very office that brought charges against Sheriff Hill, made an entry of appearance joining Hill’s legal team and filed motions on July 12th, 2021 outlining why the government has no legal evidence to bring charges against Sheriff Hill.
Clayton County’s “Crime Fighting” Sheriff was indicted on April 19, 2021, on four counts of willfully depriving four detainees at the Clayton County jail of “the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers amounting to punishment,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242.1.
Barron filed two motions for Hill:
1. A motion to dismiss the indictment and request for oral argument
2. A motion for a bill of particular
Barron’s motion to dismiss starts out strong stating, “The government has selected Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill to test a novel theory of prosecution: whether placing detainees in a restraint chair with no other violent act and no significant injury-constitutes excessive force amounting to punishment without due process of law.” Barron’s motion continues making a concerning statement of fact that, “no person in this judicial circuit has ever been criminally prosecuted or even held civilly liable for so little.”
Furthermore, in the 19-page document for the “Motion to Dismiss the Incident and the Request for Oral Argument,” Hill’s legal team lays out an argument that the “Court stands as a gatekeeper” when there is “an infirmity of law in the prosecution.” According to the motion, the infirmity here is that Hill is charged with crimes for which he lacked notice, due to there being no statute nor case law indicating that the use of a restraint chair is against the law. Restraint chairs are used by medical facilities, jails and mental health units across America to protect the individual and others from harm.
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