More than seven hours have gone into the jury deliberations in the federal court trial of a Putnam County sheriffs deputy. Defendant Terry Joe TJ Smith and his defense attorney John Tompkins have returned to the courtroom several times along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brad Blackington and Mary Ann Mindrum to answer questions submitted by the jury as they considered the evidence presented during three days of testimony. Smith was indicted by a grand jury in March on allegations of deprivation of civil rights in his police duties with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department during the arrests of four individuals in four separate cases. This morning began with closing arguments presented by Blackington, Mindrum and Tompkins. Blackington said that Smith was not protecting and serving the public as a police officer is sworn to do. He was protecting and preserving his warped version of manhood, Blackington said, adding that Smith was also denying defendants their civil rights by delivering a punishment before they had been processed by the justice system. Its not up to police officers at the scene of the crime to mete out their own sense of justice, Blackington said, pointing out that seven other police officers testified that there was excessive use of force by Smith. What you see here, Blackington told the jury, indicating Smith, is a thug with a badge. Defense attorney Tompkins said that the sheriffs department is a deeply divided agency, and he asked the jurors to consider that as they review the testimony of the officers. Tompkins pointed out that police officers are protected if they over-react in the heat of the moment, even if less force could have been used. Police brutality is not a crime, he said, because police officers must be brutal, but not excessive, when dealing with a suspect or else the officers can be ineffective in protecting the public. Referring to testimony that Smith had told other officers not to be pussies when it came to treatment of people in custody, Tompkins said that Smith made a bad impression on the other deputies and created animosity in the way he told the other deputies to man up. He made a mistake, Tompkins said of Smith. I hope he never makes it again. Return to tribstar for updates to this article. Follow Reporter Lisa Trigg on Twitter at TribStarLisa.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 23:57:08 +0000
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