By Carol Robinson
al.com
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ala. — A former state prison sergeant has been sentenced to prison for the assault of an inmate with a baton.
A Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff jury in April convicted 60-year-old Joe L. Binder of first-degree assault.
Circuit Judge David Carpenter sentenced Binder to 10 years in prison.
The assault happened Jan. 30, 2021, at William Donaldson Correctional Facility, sending two inmates – including Ephan Moore – to the hospital with injuries.
The other inmate injured was well-known prison activist Robert Earl Council.
Binder and two other ADOC correctional officers – two of which were injured during the altercation – were immediately placed on leave and all three later charged with first-degree assault on Moore.
The other two officers charged were Cordaro Melton, 38, and Daryl Brown, 40. They have not yet gone to trial.
Binder, who was their supervisor, was fired. Melton and Brown resigned.
Videos circulated on social media showing a large amount of blood on the prison floor and inmates coughing from lingering pepper spray, or another chemical agent, in the air, the Associated Press reported at the time.
The FBI was brought in to assist in the investigation.
The incident prompted officials to require ADOC supervisors to wear body cameras while on duty.
Moore, a 33-year-old from Mobile, pleaded guilty in 2013 to first-degree robbery in Dale County and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He was incarcerated at Donaldson when the altercation erupted that Saturday.
Following the prison fight, Moore was charged with second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer for stabbing Brown with an inmate-knife.
Moore last month pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison to run concurrent with his robbery sentence.
Moore, who testified at Binder’s trial, is now held at Bullock Correctional Facility.
Following his conviction, Binder was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Kaemi Calderon Velez and Brent Butler. Binder was represented by Birmingham attorneys Scott Morro and Brett Bloomston.
Morro previously said Binder was wrongly convicted, and said the defense proved that the inmate lied about what happened and also said there was no blood evidence.
Prior to sentencing, Bloomston asked that Binder be sentenced to a split sentence with time served for the 4 ½ months he has spent in the county jail.
In his request, Bloomston noted that Binder graduated from Parker High School and served decades in the U.S. Army as a decorated soldier.
Binder joined the Alabama Department of Corrections in 1998, while still in the Army Reserves. Bloomston included letters from co-workers who described Binder as respectful and empathetic to inmates.
While in the Jefferson County Jail since his conviction, the attorney wrote, he has logged 734 hours in the inmate education program.
“In addition,” Bloomston wrote, “Binder is particularly vulnerable in custody, as his career as a corrections officer could expose him to potential former supervised inmates and such other elements.”
“As Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, once stated, ‘Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done,’” Bloomston wrote.
“Allowing Binder to be defined by this one moment in time would be an incredible injustice to a man who has dedicated his life in service to our country and our state.”
Binder remains jailed awaiting transfer to prison. He is appealing.
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