Rain fell in sheets outside the unassuming Abingdon, Va., federal courthouse. Inside the brick building, set along a historic street, an eight day trial was reaching its conclusion. A years-long saga was finally coming to an end early Thursday afternoon.
In courtroom one, the two sides waited for the jury to return with their decision: Are five former corrections officers at Virginia's Marion Correctional Treatment Center liable for the death of Charles Givens, an inmate with health problems and severe mental disabilities?
Givens was found dead in his cell at Marion on Feb. 5, 2022. A year later, Kymberly Hobbs, Givens' grieving sister, sued for $15 million. She alleged that correctional officers Anthony Raymond Kelly, Gregory Scott Plummer, Joshua Jackson and William Zachary Montgomery participated in the savage beating of 52-year-old Givens, breaking his ribs that tore into his spleen, leading him to bleed out and die in his cell. Hobbs alleged in court filings that a fifth guard, Samuel Dale Osborne, didn't participate directly, but did not intervene to save Givens' life.
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