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2 Ala. corrections officers indicted on murder charge in inmate’s death

Prosecutors allege the Blount County corrections officers repeatedly used a TASER on an inmate experiencing a diabetic medical emergency

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Joseph Evans and Liletzy Valdez-Carbajal

Carol Robinson/TNS

By Carol Robinson
al.com

ONEONTA, Ala. — Two Alabama county jail officers have been indicted in the death of an inmate.

A Blount County grand jury indicted Joseph Evans, 26, and Liletzy Valdez-Carbajal, 19, on charges of murder and first-degree assault.

Both were corrections officers at the Blount County Jail. Evans has since been fired, but Valdez-Carbajal is still employed there.

They were booked into the Blount County Jail Monday following last week’s indictments.

They are charged in the death of former inmate Arthur P. Morse, 23.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s State Bureau of Investigation led the probe.

According to ALEA, Morse was at the jail when he began to have a medical event. He was taken to UAB St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham where he died on Feb. 6.

Court documents allege that Evans and Valdez-Carbajal “assaulted Arthur Paul Morse by repeatedly dry stunning (him) with a Taser with the intent to cause (the inmate) physical injury during a time that (Morse) was unable to stand or walk unassisted due to diabetic Ketoacidois.”

Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey declined to comment on the case pending the ongoing legal proceedings.

Sheriff Mark Moon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Evans and Valdez-Carbajal remain jailed without bond pending an Aniah’s Law hearing.

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