Opinion ID: 4109683
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Assault on Franklin Jones

Text: In October 2010, inmate Franklin Jones assaulted an officer. The CERT team, including the appellants, responded to the incident. They escorted Jones to the gymnasium where, while he was still in handcuffs, they repeatedly beat him. Jones was brought to the medical unit where he was treated for injuries that included a laceration on the back of his head, swelling in the bones around both eyes, and blood in his mouth and nostrils. Jones did not have those injuries before the CERT team escorted him to the gymnasium. 1 The background on the assaults provided below does not represent the full detail of what was alleged or argued at trial. The background details provided are to give context and color to the legal issues in this case. Further details on the assaults and falsified reports can be found in the parties’ briefs and the trial transcripts. 3 Case: 14-15622 Date Filed: 12/21/2016 Page: 4 of 23 The CERT team then wrote reports on what occurred and omitted mention of assaulting Jones. At trial, two CERT team officers testified that they were taught to “write their statements to coincide with each other” and to write a report to make it appear “like nothing happened.” When Internal Affairs came to investigate, Hall told them to “just stick to what [they] had on the statement.”