ATLANTA — A man told a federal court that he was handcuffed and restrained in a metal chair for six hours at the order of Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill. The suspended sheriff faces federal charges in a trial that started this week.
Federal prosecutors want the jury to believe that Hill abused and bullied inmates in the Clayton County jail by restraining some of them for hours – and for little reason in a metal chair.
Testimony Friday indicated Hill was on hand when a Clayton County man named Desmond Bailey was arrested for illegal firearms and drugs in February 2020. When he got to the Clayton County Jail, Bailey told jurors Hill appeared in a holding area, asking questions. Bailey said he told Hill he wanted an attorney.
He told jurors Hill responded: "You think you’re a bad***? You think you’re a gangster?"
"Put his a** in the chair.”
Bailey told the jury he was restrained and handcuffed in the chair for six straight hours.
"It was horrible… you can’t move. My whole body was numb," he said.
He said he and another similarly restrained man “we were screaming, yelling… trying to get (the staff’s) attention. We’re hurt. We’re bleeding.”
Later Friday, then-Clayton County jail nurse testified she treated wounds on Bailey's wrists for a week afterward, inflicted by handcuffs. Prosecutors showed jurors photos of deep gashes on each wrist.
Retired sheriff's Maj. Eugene Peterkin, who transported Bailey to the jail, told jurors that Bailey was never combative or destructive after he was taken into custody.
Defense attorneys pointed out that Bailey has been jailed at least a half dozen times over his life, and that he still has drug charges pending in Georgia and Oklahoma. They're hoping to impugn the credibility of him and upcoming witnesses against Hill.