Duval County Guard Pleads Guilty to Lesser Charge in Inmate Beating of Black Man

A former Duval County correctional officer accused of beating an inmate faces up to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a reduced charge of falsifying a report on the incident. Prosecutors will drop a charge that Edward Mincey severely beat inmate Ronnie Forest last year in exchange for his guilty plea Thursday for felony obstruction of justice. Mincey's attorney, Mitchell Stone, said he advised his client against pleading guilty and said he is confident he would have won at trial. Mincey, 29, remains free on bail pending his July 6 sentencing. He admitted in court that he fought with Forest in his jail cell in January 2005, an altercation that required more than 30 stitches for a cut over his left eye. The former guard said he falsified a use-of-force report by omitting two facts: his verbal argument with Forest 30 minutes earlier and his retrieval of the key to Forest's cell. Prosecutors had lined up about a dozen correctional officers to testify against Mincey, including one who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and changed his story to say Mincey threw Forest to the ground and stomped on his head. Forest, 36, had been jailed on charges of attempting to flee and attempting to elude police. He has filed a civil rights claim against the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. [more]

• Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office to add the case to two other use-of-force investigations prosecutors are conducting of the sheriff's office. Ezra Jones, 29, died in police after being restrained at the Duval County Jail shortly after his arrest Dec. 5. Sammy Evans Jr., 49, died after his arrest early for public drinking across from his home Dec. 3. [more]