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Murphy – A former jail officer accused of assaulting an inmate inside the Cherokee County Detention Center has admitted to the crime.
Wesley Gage Killian, 27, was fired from the county jail in 2018 after he kicked an inmate in the face. A local grand jury indicted Killian in December that year, charging him with assault inflicting serious injury and assault with a deadly weapon, with the weapon being his shoe.
As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed those two charges. Killian pled guilty to simple assault on March 15.
Upon the request of Killian’s attorney, Judge William Coward continued judgment in the case, meaning Killian won’t serve prison time as long as he complies with certain conditions. Court documents show Killian must pay court fees associated with the case, avoid contact with former detention officer Joshua Gunter and not violate any laws for 12 months.
“If he can do that for a year, he’ll have a fresh start, I guess,” Coward said.
On May 2, 2018, Killian and Gunter responded to a disturbance in a jail cell, which led to a physical altercation. Prosecutors say video surveillance from inside the jail captured part of the event.
Video reportedly shows a handcuffed federal inmate named George Victor Stokes being led down the stairs by Gunter. During the transport, Stokes suddenly shakes away from Gunter, who then strikes the inmate in the head with a Taser, which did not deploy. While the inmate is on the ground bleeding from the head wound, Killian kicks him in the face, prosecutors say.
Killian’s attorney, Zeyland McKinney, provided a fuller picture of the incident. He told the court his client
had been employed at the jail for about two months and had no training nor certification at the time of the assault.
McKinney said the situation began with Gunter slipping on a pair of “hardened gloves” and beating Stokes inside his cell, which prompted Killian to pull both men out of the cell onto the catwalk.
During an altercation on the catwalk, Gunter used the Taser on both Stokes and Killian, McKinney said. The situation then spiraled further out of control, with Killian getting his foot stuck in a grate, which caused him to blow out a knee.
“My client has been painted as the villain who abused somebody, and it’s totally unfair,” McKinney said about news coverage Killian has received for nearly three years. “An inmate had the tar beat out of him for no good reason. My client prevented a much worse situation from happening [by pulling them onto the catwalk].”
McKinney said Gunter continued to beat Stokes as they took him to the booking area and “opened his head” with the Taser. Killian then kicked Stokes in the face.
“My client did something stupid,” McKinney told the judge. “None of Stokes’ serious injuries were the result of what my client did.”
In urging for no prison time, McKinney said Killian offered to fully cooperate with authorities immediately after the incident. However, state officials who investigated the jail did not want his assistance.
While blasting investigators for not charging Gunter in the altercation, McKinney said jail records were altered to provide exculpatory evidence for others at the facility that day.
Prosecutors opposed the continued judgement, arguing that Killian was much bigger than the inmate and that
Stokes was no danger to anyone while handcuffed on the ground, bleeding from his head.
Although Gunter was never charged with a crime for his role in the altercation, he was fired from the jail along with Killian.
In fall 2019, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating the jail regarding allegations of civil rights violations. Following a year-long investigation, authorities determined that no criminal acts occurred.