A St. Clair County jury found two former correctional officers guilty of smuggling drugs into a state prison late Wednesday. “These defendants betrayed the trust placed in them by the people of Alabama,” St. Clair County Assistant District Attorney John DeMarco said after the verdict was rendered. “We thank the jury. They were diligent and conscientious during the course of the trial, and we feel like they came to the correct verdict.”
After two days of testimony, it took a jury of four men and eight women one and a half hours to find former Alabama Department of Corrections officers Tommie Borden, 34, of Gadsden, and Mark Clark, 27, of Anniston guilty of second-degree promoting prison contraband.
Defense attorneys Shaun Malone of Gadsden, who represented Borden, and Stan Brown of Pell City, who represented Clark, said they respected the jurors’ decision.
“We certainly respect the verdict, but we are disappointed,” Malone said after the trial.
Testimony in the criminal trial began Tuesday, and both sides rested their case by mid-afternoon Wednesday.
St. Clair County Assistant District Attorney Joey Stevens, who spearheaded the prosecution, said the case was not about the small amount of marijuana the former prison guards attempted to smuggle into the St. Clair County Correctional Facility in Springville, but about the betrayal of the public’s trust by these state correctional officers.
“Defendants Borden and Clark took an oath to serve and protect,” Stevens said. “The only ones they served were themselves.”
St. Clair County Circuit Court Judge Charles Robinson allowed the defendants to remain out of jail on bond until their sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, at the St. Clair County Courthouse in Ashville.
Robinson also ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for both men.
Testimony revealed that Borden entered the prison on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, with 4.10 grams of marijuana.
Borden put the small package of marijuana into a white bag outside the shift office where the two guards checked into work. He gave the bag of dope to Clark, who had access to prisoners that day.
However, Lt. Kenneth Peters, the guards’ immediate supervisor, stopped Clark after observing what he believed was a “transaction” between the two guards.
Peters, who was a sergeant at the time of the incident, testified Tuesday he became suspicious after Clark signed the shift log but lingered along the breezeway outside the shift office.
Peters testified he saw Borden pull something out of his pocket and place it in a white bag, giving it to Clark.
Peters said he confronted Clark, and the guard resisted giving him the bag. Eventually Clark handed the bag over to the shift commander, who called for backup.
Borden and Clark both took the witness stand in their defense on Wednesday.
Borden testified he allegedly found the package of marijuana out in the prison’s parking lot.
He said he did not tell either of the two guards posted at the entrance of the prison because it was visitation day, and he feared that an inmate might find out he confiscated the marijuana that was trying to be smuggled into the prison.
Borden also did not tell employees manning the central control of the prison he was in possession of drugs.
He also signed the shift log with Peters directly across from him but failed to tell his boss about the marijuana he allegedly found in the parking lot and brought into the prison.
Both Borden and Clark testified that they did not trust Peters, who is known for finding prison inmates with drugs.
Clark said on the stand that Peters was lying about what had transpired on the breezeway that winter day, but another prison guard who testified Tuesday backed up Peters’ account.
The two guards testified they were only trying to take the contraband to another shift sergeant, Earl Pickett, when Peters stopped Clark along the breezeway.
“Lt. Peters, in a nutshell, is why we are here, the interpretation of what he saw,” Malone told jurors in his closing remarks. “People see things differently…Was there a rush to judgment by him? I think so.”
Brown also echoed Malone’s statements to jurors.
“People make mistakes about what they see,” Brown said. “People can be confused about what happens.”
But Stevens fired back in his address to jurors, saying there wasn’t any misunderstanding or confusion.
“It’s against the law to carry dope in a prison,” Stevens said pointing at the defendants. “We aren’t here because of Sgt. Peters; we’re here because of them.”
Clark also testified Wednesday that he did not know what was in the bag Borden handed him, but in a CD recording between Clark and M.C. Smith, an Alabama Department of Corrections investigator, Clark said he believed the package had marijuana inside.
That was pivotal in Clark’s conviction, jurors said after the trial.
Borden also testified he was going to give the package of marijuana to Sgt. Earl Pickett because he trusted him, not Peters.
Borden testified he knew Pickett was working that day because he saw Pickett’s black Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck in the prison parking lot. He also heard and saw Pickett from the breezeway before he handed Clark the sack of marijuana.
However, prosecutors called Pickett to the stand as a rebuttal witness.
“The truth rises to the top and shows itself no mater how hard someone tries to bury it,” DeMarco said in his closing statements.
Pickett testified he was driving his car, not his truck, that day. Pickett also testified he was in a cellblock when Peters’ call for assistance came across the prison radio.
“It was like a kid’s hand being caught in a cookie jar, but in this case it was 4.10 grams of marijuana,” Stevens said.