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Apr 9, 2008 1:12 am US/Eastern
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Deputy Busy Texting While Inmate Beaten To Death
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) ―
Results of a criminal grand jury investigation show an sheriff's deputy watched TV and sent text messages while jail inmates beat a fellow prisoner to death.
The findings were compiled in an 80-page report released Monday. Another 8,000 pages of transcripts from the probe were also made public.
The report says one jail guard watched the TV show "Cops" and sent 22 personal text messages during the hour-long beating that resulted in the death of inmate John Derek Chamberlain, 41, on Oct. 5, 2006.
Nine inmates have been charged with his murder, but no deputies have been charged. Several high-ranking officials left the Sheriff's Department after the jail investigation concluded.
The report also found that deputies did not check on the area where Chamberlain lay dead for at least five hours after the assault, even though one inmate frantically jumped on a table and waved his arms in front of the deputies' guard station.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)