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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Court Lets Child Rapist Sue Over Prison Beating

CINCINNATI (CN) - The 6th Circuit allowed a convicted child rapist to pursue his claim that a jail guard was deliberately indifferent when other prisoners gave him a beating that sent him to the hospital.

The court said Shaun Leary, who was convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl, had provided enough evidence to sue Scott Stone over the beating at Livingston County Jail, but not Denis McGuckin, who allegedly called Leary a "sick prick" and hit him on the back of the neck while walking him to his cell.

A 2-1 majority granted McGuckin qualified immunity, because he had used minimal force on Leary.

Stone, on the other hand, allegedly told Leary that "once other inmates found out what he did that there would be no protection from anyone here at the jail," and spread word of Leary's crime to the prisoner's fellow inmates.

Inmates harassed Leary about child rape and beat him up just two days after he had been put in jail on the rape charge. He suffered facial fractures and a skull fracture, and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The court affirmed denial of Stone's motion for summary judgment, saying Leary had established a claim of deliberate indifference.

Judge Eric Clay dissented, saying he would deny immunity to both guards.

Leary is serving a 12- to 40-year sentence in Jackson, Mich., for first-degree criminal sexual assault.

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