By Zack McDonald
The News Herald
PANAMA CITY — Prosecutors have dismissed federal charges against a former Washington County prison guard accused of taking part in an organized attack on an inmate, according to court records.
Christopher Blake Christmas, 32, was scheduled to go on trial Monday and also nearly pleaded guilty to the charges in the case during a June hearing. However, the U.S. Attorney’s Office dropped its case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida against him Oct. 9, court records indicated.
Attempts to contact Christmas were unsuccessful Friday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton also could not be reached for comment.
Christmas was one of five Florida Department of Corrections officers indicted on charges of subjecting 31-year-old Jeremiah Tatum’s to cruel or unusual punishment at the Northwest Florida Reception Center (NWFRC) in Washington County during an act of jailhouse retaliation.
All of the other four former NWFRC guards have pleaded guilty to the charges. William Francis Finch, Robert Lewis Miller, James Fletcher Perkins and Dalton Edward Riley have admitted to accepting orders from former Capt. James Kirkland prior to slamming the inmate face-first to the ground and then falsifying reports of the incident.
Kirkland, however, was never charged. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound before he could be indicted in the case.
Christmas nearly pleaded guilty before reversing his position during a June change of plea hearing before Judge Robert Hinkle.
“I didn’t know they had planned any kind of — other than escort the inmate at the time,” he told the court in June. “I was under the impression that we were going to go do a cell extraction.”
Christmas said that since he was the last to enter a room where the other guards were suiting up for the extraction of Tatum and the last to leave the room, he did not hear the command.
“At no time did I hear him say that the inmate was going to spit on him and we were supposed to hurt him,” he added. “I’m not doubting he said it, knowing the type of person he is ... but I had no knowledge of -- that we were supposed to take him to the ground.”
The only reason he considered pleading guilty was because he was under the impression the other four guards would testify against him, Christmas said. His defense attorney, Rachel Seaton-Virga, said that rather than go to trial, possibly lose and face a significantly longer jail sentence, Christmas and his family opted to rely on the court’s leniency of a shorter sentence with a plea of guilty.
He would have faced about a year in prison with a guilty plea, while a conviction at trial could have been more than triple that if he also were found to have obstructed justice.
“That would have just really devastated his wife, his two small children,” Seaton-Virga told the court. “They need him sooner rather than later.”
Littleton told the court the government’s evidence against Christmas was “very strong” and surveillance video of the attack contradicted his claim of not hearing the orders. She said Christmas was considering a guilty plea because of the amassed evidence against him.
“I think he recognizes the weight of the evidence against him,” Littleton said. “He was in that room.”
The arrests of the officers stemmed from an Aug. 5, 2014, incident, during which Tatum was left severely injured. Prosecutors claim Kirkland sought retaliation from a previous incident, where Tatum deflected pepper spray onto him. Kirkland then organized an incident in which Tatum was again sprayed, and Kirkland called in a five-man extradition team to escort Tatum to a decontamination shower, prosecutors allege. As the men equipped themselves for the extradition, Kirkland allegedly told the officers he would state Tatum spit on him, leading up to the beating “to teach him a lesson,” according to court records.
Video from the prison showed Finch and Riley slamming Tatum’s face to the concrete floor while Tatum’s hands were restrained behind his back and his ankles restrained. The three other officers then jumped on Tatum and pinned him to the ground, according to arrest records.
Sentencing of the four guards who pleaded guilty is scheduled to begin Wednesday.
Copyright 2015 The News Herald