JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES PLEA IN
TENNESSEE CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS CASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights R. Alexander Acosta and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Terrell L. Harris today announced guilty pleas from Tennessee individuals regarding criminal civil rights violations.

Tovi Brewer, 25, and Leon Cecil Bratcher, 37, pled guilty to physically abusing James Johnson, a profoundly mentally retarded resident of Arlington Developmental Center. The state of Tennessee formerly employed Brewer and Bratcher as developmental aides in the center. The defendants specifically admitted to conspiring to deprive Johnson of his federal constitutional right not to be unjustifiably assaulted by state-employed caretakers, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 241.

“Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate that the Justice Department is firmly committed to vigorously investigating and prosecuting attacks by state institutional workers,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “Such individuals are charged with caring for some of the most vulnerable members of society, and their senseless acts of violence will be brought to justice.”

In their plea agreements, Brewer and Bratcher admitted that in 1997 and 1998 they routinely slapped and punched Johnson in the head and chest. The corporal abuse, Brewer and Bratcher conceded, was aimed at getting Johnson to follow commands and punishing the victim for engaging in impulsive behavior caused by his disabilities. The defendants and others covered up the abuse to protect each other.

The defendants each face a maximum of ten years imprisonment and $250,000 in fines. They will be sentenced in accordance with the United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigated this matter. Trial attorneys from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee jointly prosecuted the case. Mr. Acosta and Mr. Harris commended the diligent and professional efforts of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Donald “Skip” Lee, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Parker and Criminal Section trial attorney Seth Rosenthal in investigating and prosecuting this case.

More information about the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division can be found on the Justice Department’s website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/index.html.

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