By Brett Hambright
Intelligencer Journal/New Era
LANCASTER, Pa. — A prisoner is facing a longer stay behind bars after a trial last week in Lancaster County court.
A local jury convicted Samuel Lee Foster on Thursday of assaulting a guard at Lancaster County Prison after the prisoner walked out of his cell without permission in September.
The felony count of aggravated assault warrants a potential state-prison term when Foster is sentenced June 28.
The jury took just over an hour to decide that Foster, 38, was guilty of kicking and kneeing Correctional Officer Steven Napolitan on Sept. 3.
Foster was locked up at the time on a probation violation from a prior drug conviction, according to Assistant District Attorney Joseph Duome, who prosecuted the case.
Guards initially responded to Foster’s cell when he was being loud and had smeared butter on a surveillance camera inside the cell, Duome said.
As Napolitan was cleaning the camera, Foster walked out of his cell.
When guards corralled Foster, he resisted by latching onto a handrail.
Eventually, four guards worked to get Foster back into his cell.
All four testified at trial that Foster - described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and 180 pounds - was “very strong.”
The guards held onto Foster’s leg and arms, but he continued to fight them. At one point he kicked Napolitan and kneed him in the groin.
Foster testified at trial that he wasn’t trying to hurt any of the guards.
A five-minute video of the incident was shown to jurors. During deliberations, they asked to see the video another time. About 30 minutes later, they came to a decision.
Lancaster County Detective David Odenwalt investigated the incident and filed charges.
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