Former COs Sentenced For In-Custody Death Of Quantez Burks

Two former West Virginia correctional officers were sentenced this week over the in-custody death of Quantez Burks. 

According to AP, 41-year-old Mark Holdren and 33-year-old Johnathan Walters were sentenced to 20 and 21 years in prison, respectively, in relation to Burks’ 2022 in-custody death. Holdren and Walters both pleaded guilty to conspiring with other officers to violate Quantez Burks’ civil rights, resulting in death. Holdren and Walters are two of the six former officers who’ve been indicted on charges related to Burks’ in-custody death.  

Quantez Burks, 37, was held in the Southern Regional Jail for less than 24 hours before he died in 2022. He was a pretrial detainee being held on a wanton endangerment charge. While in custody, officers say that Burks attempted to brush past an officer to leave his holding cell. The officers responded by handcuffing him and taking him to an interview room with no surveillance cameras. The officers struck Burks multiple times in the head, kicked him, and pepper-sprayed him, all while he was handcuffed. 

When the officers realized Burks was unresponsive, they dragged him to another holding cell, with Walters swinging Burks’ head into a metal door to open it. Emergency medical personnel arrived a short time later and pronounced Quantez Burks dead. 

The state medical examiner’s office initially ruled Quantez Burks died from natural causes. It wasn’t until Burks’ family ordered a private autopsy that they discovered signs of blunt force trauma on various parts of his body. Burks’ in-custody death drew increased scrutiny to the Southern Regional Jail as the actions of the officers were not uncommon. In their guilty pleas, both Holdren and Walters admitted to intentionally taking Burks to a room where there weren’t surveillance cameras and that officers often assaulted inmates accused of misconduct in areas of the jail that had “blind spots.” 

Along with Holdren and Walters, former Officer Steven Nicholas Wimmer was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiring to use unreasonable force against Quantez Burks. Former Lt. Chad Lester was sentenced in May to over 17 years in prison on three obstruction of justice charges. Lester gave false statements to investigators and told his subordinates to do the same under the threat of violence and retaliation.

“On the defendant’s watch, correctional officers killed an inmate, and the defendant conspired with them to cover up their crimes,” Lisa Johnston, acting U.S. attorney for West Virginia’s southern district, said in a statement regarding Lester’s sentencing. “The defendant violated the public’s trust in the law enforcement system he had sworn to uphold.”

Burks’ in-custody death resulted in a class action lawsuit being filed against the jail by several inmates alleging inhumane conditions in the jail. The lawsuit revealed further shadiness at the jail as a federal judge found that evidence of wrongdoing at the jail was intentionally destroyed. The state settled the suit in 2023 for $4 million. 

In-custody deaths are a tragically common occurrence for Black and brown people. Saniyah Cheatham, an 18-year-old Black girl, died over the weekend while in NYPD custody. According to NYPD officers, Chetham allegedly hanged herself shortly after being placed in a cell. From Sandra Bland to Saniyah Cheatham, there has long been scrutiny over the official narratives given when there’s an in-custody death. The blatant cover-up attempt of Quantez Burks’ in-custody death does nothing to ease that scrutiny. 

SEE ALSO:

Black Teen Saniyah Cheatham Dies While In NYPD Custody

Racial Bias: Audit Finds 36 In-Custody Deaths Should Be Labeled Homicides

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