The Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Two Mississippi Highway Patrol officers indicted for federal civil rights violations stemming from two incidents in 2003 in which they are alleged to have beaten people in their custody have been put on restricted duty.
Troopers John Kevin Smith, 33, and James Sizemore, 28, were indicted Friday on violations stemming from two separate incidents in May and August 2003.
Based on patrol policy, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said restricted duty prevents Smith and Sizemore from carrying out law enforcement duties.
Attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. will prosecute the federal case, said Sheila Wilbanks, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton’s office.
Smith and Sizemore were based in Brookhaven.
Smith was indicted on three counts of depriving a citizen of his civil rights while acting as a law enforcement officer. Sizemore was indicted on one count of the same charge. Smith also is charged with one count of destruction, alteration or falsification of records in a federal investigation.
Strain said Monday that Highway Patrol officials know little about the federal charges filed against the troopers. In addition, they have not seen copies of the indictments and don’t know details such as the identities of alleged victims, Strain said.
Officials were aware an investigation was going on, Strain said, but didn’t know of the intended targets until indictments were handed down Friday.
Lampton recused his office from prosecuting the case because he is a former district attorney in counties that are part of the district where Sizemore and Smith are assigned.
If convicted, the troopers face a maximum 20-year prison term on each count and a $250,000 fine. Both are to appear Nov. 16 in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.