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A former supervisor at the McCurtain County jail has admitted in a criminal conspiracy case to having an inmate beaten after being told to give the teenager the “royal treatment.”
Christopher Cody Johnson, 34, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Sept. 17, to a felony charge of conspiracy against rights.
He was charged on Sept. 8 in federal court in Muskogee. Further criminal charges are expected from the FBI review of the Sept. 15, 2021, beating of Roper Harris.
The charge comes more than two years after a local newspaper’s audio recording of county officials talking about killing journalists and lynching Black people brought intense national scrutiny to the county in far southeast Oklahoma.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson called the comments in recordings released by the McCurtain County Gazette-News “a reminder of the unfinished business of tackling racism.”
County Commissioner Mark Jennings resigned over the remarks. Sheriff Kevin Clardy lost reelection last year.
McCurtain County residents protest Monday, April 17, 2023, outside the McCurtain County Commissioners office to protest comments reportedly made by the sheriff, a commissioner, an investigator and a jail administrator.
The victim, Harris, sued the jail trust and others in federal court over the beating. That civil case is still pending.
Harris has a child with the stepdaughter of the jail’s administrator at the time. He was beaten at the jail in Idabel after being arrested for allegedly violating a restraining order.
In pleading guilty, Johnson admitted a co-conspirator told him in a phone call to give Harris “the royal treatment.” He admitted he was directed to put Harris in a cell with a violent inmate and promise the inmate a reward from the jail commissary to carry out an assault.
He admitted he then explained the plan to a second co-conspirator, the jail’s night supervisor. He admitted to giving snuff the next day to the inmate who did the assault.
Johnson will be sentenced later. The maximum punishment for violating an inmate’s rights is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Former McCurtain County jailer pleads guilty to federal conspiracy
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