A Colorado Department of Corrections who witnessed another guard assault an inmate and then attempted to cover up the crime will not face any jail time as part of a plea agreement reached Tuesday morning.
Shannon Proud will serve 6 months probation and will keep his job with the DOC.
News 5 Investigates first obtained disturbing video footage from inside the Centennial Correctional Facility in Fremont County back in 2016.
The footage captured showed an inmate being assaulted back in 2014.
From one camera angle, you can see Anthony Martinez, a corrections officer, yank inmate Shawn Lovett by his leg chains for no apparent reason.
Lovett is seen on video falling flat on his face and then laying in a pool of blood.
“It’s very disturbing,” Sarah Schielke, Lovett’s attorney said. “It’s very disturbing to watch. Both Officer Proud and Officer Martinez are on the full weight of their bodies and their knees in his back. They are pushing into his neck and back and yelling at him to stop resisting!”
But there’s just one problem—surveillance video never shows Lovett being combative in any way.
“From his body language and so forth, it appears he (Lovett) is being cooperative and then suddenly you see him jerked off his feet and go head first into the concrete,” Alex Wold, a retired investigator with the Colorado Department of Corrections said.
Corrections Officer Martinez was fired, pleaded guilty to an assault charge and spent 30 days in jail.
Proud was charged with being an accessory to the crime, failing to report the “use of force” incident, official misconduct and false reporting.
Around 10 a.m. Tuesday, he accepted a plea deal in which the District Attorney’s Office agreed to drop all charges except the misdemeanor charge of failing to file a “use of force” report.
“We agreed to do this quite frankly because Mr. Proud does not want to go through the expense and the uncertainty of a jury trial in connection with this matter,” Joe Koncilja, Proud’s attorney said.
Although the criminal aspect of this case is closed, Martinez and Proud still face a civil lawsuit.
