Ex-Florida guard who left female inmate paralyzed is convicted — but not for that incident

One of the two corrections officers accused of brutally attacking an inmate at Lowell Correctional, leaving her paralyzed, went on trial Wednesday, but not for that incident. Keith Mitchell Turner, a lieutenant who had a history of brutality complaints and is no longer employed by the department, was tried and found guilty on two counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a person under 12, a crime unrelated to his former prison system job.

Aware that the trial was happening, critics of the Florida Department of Corrections, including former inmates, protested outside the Marion County Courthouse. They were there to ask why he wasn’t charged in connection with the clash that left Cheryl Weimar with devastating injuries.

There are hundreds of deaths and grave injuries every year in the Florida prison system and significant numbers of them are suspicious, current and former inmates say. Lowell Correctional, Florida’s main women’s prison, in particular has been accused of indifference to rapes and other acts of cruelty by staff, drawing the attention of the U.S. Justice Department. Holding anyone accountable, especially a staff member, is difficult. At Lowell, staff sexual assaults and other misconduct are often administered away from cameras, the Justice Department reported. Inmate witnesses say they are seldom believed.

Lowell abuses by Casey Frank on Scribd

The encounter nearly three years ago that left Cheryl Weimar, 53, paralyzed made national headlines. According to inmate witnesses, Turner and a second officer dragged Weimar “like a ragdoll” through the prison yard, her head bouncing, her spinal cord damaged — all because she refused an order to clean a toilet.

READ MORE: Florida OKs $4.65 million payout for beating by staff that paralyzed inmate Cheryl Weimar

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was assigned to investigate. Two months ago, with little fanfare, Marion County State Attorney William Gladson issued a lengthy memo saying no criminal charges were justified. In his memo, in which he said 43 inmate witnesses were interviewed, Gladson explained that those witnesses gave inconsistent accounts.

READ MORE: Beyond Punishment: A Miami Herald I-team investigation of Lowell Correctional Institution

The memo described the officers carrying the limp Weimar into the prison building and laying her face-down on the floor, before placing her in a wheelchair and taking her by van to the medical building. Weimar’s condition elicited little sympathy from Lowell staff.

“Comments of the various personnel involved in moving her clearly show that they felt Ms. Weimar was ‘faking’ and was deliberately going limp,” the memo stated.

Weimar, who was serving a sentence for domestic violence, had mental health issues and said she was ill when she refused the order to clean the toilet.

In light of her paralysis, she was released early from prison. She sued and received a $4.65 million settlement.

Meantime, in a surprise development, Turner was charged with a crime having nothing to do with the prison system: lewd and lascivious assault on a minor.

Wednesday, on the occasion of his criminal trial, about 25 prison rights protesters gathered outside the Marion County Courthouse around 6:50 a.m. in hopes of convincing the state attorney to reverse course and charge Turner and another officer identified in news reports as connected to what happened to Weimar. The other officer has also not been charged, though he too is no longer with the department.

“Of course we want justice in all of these cases,” said Debra Bennett-Austin, executive director and co-founder of a pro-reform organization called Change Comes Now. “But I had to be the one to call Cheryl Weimar and tell her that the state attorney’s office is not pursuing charges. And to hear her cry on the phone and know that just because the state’s not pressing charges, it doesn’t mean that — poof — she’s going to be fixed and she’ll be able to walk around again.”

Some of the protesters held signs with messages like “In Marion County, you can break the law for free if you work for DOC” and “43 repeat 43 eyewitness and Cheryl Weimar doesn’t get a grand jury.”

”I was in prison for 19 years,” Bennett-Austin said. “I broke the law. I was held accountable. I was sent to prison. It doesn’t mean that you can beat me or rape me. Or do all of these things that we know that are happening in Lowell every single day and you get away with it.”

Turner will be sentenced at a later date.

Weimar’s attorney, Ryan Andrews, said that while he understands the decision of the State Attorney’s Office not to prosecute, he does not agree with it. Andrews conceded that having a trial and not getting a conviction might make the situation worse for his client, making her feel as if the system failed her again.

“Would Cheryl have felt any better if they [prosecutors] had charged them and lost?” Andrews asked. “The answer is no. So if they really think they would have lost and I’m not saying they’re right or wrong, other than I just disagree with it. Like if it was true that they weren’t going to get a conviction, then it wouldn’t have done anything else for Cheryl.”

Andrews said that Weimar is struggling, although her religious devotion has helped her cope.

“It’s incredible,” Andrews said. “She has a better outlook than I think that most people would have — certainly better than I would have. But she’s also become a very strong woman of faith. And I think restraint helps her tremendously in coping and dealing with this. I know she’s happy that people are protesting.”

Andrews, who handles a lot of prison-related litigation, added: “I think a protest lets people know, like, we’re watching. You may not have been charged on this one, but we’re gonna watch every other one that comes in here, too. Because these people shouldn’t be forgotten, people like Cheryl or people that are killed in prison.”

This article has been updated to attribute certain information about staff misconduct at Lowell to a December 2020 report by the U.S. Justice Department titled: “Investigation of Lowell Correctional Institution,” conducted in the wake of a Miami Herald investigation. That report has been embedded. Information about suspicious deaths and injuries comes from current and former prisoners communicating with the Herald.