By Natalie Neysa Alund
Knoxville News-Sentinel
COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — Nicholas Laws, 20, of Parrottsville, alleges the group of men assaulted him in his cell following his Aug. 31 arrest, according to a five-page lawsuit filed this month in Cocke County Circuit Court.
According to Cocke County Sheriff’s Department arrest reports filed Sunday, six inmates — Kyle Perdue, 20, of Newport; David Zimmerman, 25, of Newport; Brandon Hurley, 27, of Parrottsville; Phillip Jenkins, 22, of Newport; Jacob Shelton, 18, of Parrottsville; and Jeremy Grooms, 39, of Cosby — assaulted Laws in his cell on Sept. 1.
All six inmates were charged with one count of assault, the report shows.
Grooms also was charged with one count of sexual battery for “improper touching and actions,” according to his arrest report. At the time of the alleged attack, Grooms was behind bars on charges including failure to appear in court.
At the time of the alleged assault, a jail deputy said, Laws was awaiting prosecution on charges that include burglary and arson.
The deputy also said all six men arrested for the attack remained incarcerated Monday. So did Laws. The suit, which names Cocke County, Sheriff Armando Fontes, and unnamed jailers and deputies, claims Laws was bound to a bunk in his cell inside the Cocke County Jail Annex and was sexually assaulted and sodomized by at least five inmates.
The alleged assault, the lawsuit states, took place for about five minutes.
The suit, filed by Laws’ Newport-based attorney Carter Moore, claims jailers failed to protect Laws and is seeking $1 million as well as punitive damages.
Fontes could not be reached.
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