A former supervisory deputy at the regional jail in Perry County assaulted an inmate in November 2012 and filled out a false report to cover up his actions, a federal grand jury has charged.
The grand jury indicted Kevin Eugene Asher on one count of violating the inmate’s right to be free from excessive force and one count of falsifying a record to obstruct a federal investigation.
Asher pleaded not guilty at his initial court appearance Monday.
The indictment did not name the alleged victim, but the initials match those of an inmate named Gary Hill who is named in a related case.
Police arrested Hill at his home on disorderly conduct and other charges after he drank alcohol with his prescription medication, according to a court record.
At the Kentucky River Regional Jail, Hill got mad and tried to flood his cell with water from a faucet because deputy jailer Damon Wayne Hickman wouldn’t let him make a telephone call.
Hickman knocked Hill to the floor with a punch and then kicked him repeatedly, a grand jury has charged.
The new indictment unsealed Nov. 18 alleges that Asher took part in the assault.
Asher later wrote a false report saying Hill had been combative and pulled back his fist as if to hit officers and that Hill slipped on the wet floor while trying to get away from deputies and fell against a wall, the grand jury charged.
Hickman pleaded guilty in a separate case to beating an inmate named Larry Trent, who later died.
Hickman admitted that he used excessive force against Trent in July 2013, failed to get medical attention for him, and falsified a log book to indicate that Trent was OK after the assault. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
Hickman also was charged in assaults on Hill and another inmate. His plea deal calls for those charges to be dismissed.
Another deputy jailer, Curtis Howell, was charged in the assault on Trent.
The charges against Howell were continued after his attorney said a mental evaluation showed that he isn’t competent to stand trial.
Asher is scheduled for trial in January. The most serious charge has a 20-year maximum sentence.
Bill Estep: 606-678-4655, @billestep1
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