Former Federal Corrections Officer Indicted on Civil Rights Charges Related to Fatal Assault

Former Federal Corrections Officer Indicted on Civil Rights Charges Related to
Fatal Assault

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A federal grand jury in Orlando,
Fla., has indicted a former Federal Bureau of Prisons corrections officer on
charges related to a fatal assault on an inmate in March 2005. Michael
Kennedy was charged with one count of conspiring with others to violate the
federal civil rights of inmate Richard Delano and one count of violating
Delano's civil rights by arranging for another inmate to assault Delano. The
indictment was unsealed today in conjunction with Kennedy's initial appearance
in court.

Each count carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
A trial has not yet been scheduled.

The grand jury charged that on Feb. 28, 2005, Kennedy and a co-conspirator,
fellow Bureau of Prisons corrections officer Erin Sharma, agreed to move
Delano into the cell of another inmate at the Coleman Federal Correctional
Complex in Coleman, Fla. The indictment alleges that Kennedy and Sharma knew
that the inmate was likely to assault Delano, that the move was in retaliation
for a prior altercation between Delano and Sharma, and that Sharma encouraged
the inmate to assault Delano. According to the indictment, Kennedy moved
Delano into the inmate's cell on March 1, 2005, and the inmate assaulted
Delano three days later. Delano later died from the injuries he suffered
during that assault.

On July 29, 2009, a federal jury in Orlando found Sharma guilty of federal
civil rights charges related to this incident, and on Oct. 26, 2009, she was
sentenced to life in prison in connection with her conviction on those
charges.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Ambrose from the
U.S. Attorney's Office, and Trial Attorney Douglas Kern from the Civil Rights
Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and defendants are presumed innocent
unless proven guilty.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2007, TDD, +1-202-514-1888