Yates was a jailer at the Sequoyah County Jail at the time.
He pleaded guilty to beating Donald Gene Allen, 41, of rural Muldrow in the booking area of the county jail. The attack was caught on film by security cameras. Allen had been arrested on driving under the influence and drug charges. The FBI took the film during their investigation.
Yates was taken into custody Thursday by the U.S. Marshals Service to await a pre-sentencing investigation, Sheldon J. Sperling, U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma Federal Court in Muskogee, said.
"The statutory range of punishment is up to 10 years imprisonment and/or up to $250,000 in fines," Sperling said. "A preliminary guideline calculation projects a sentence of 18-24 months in prison."
Sperling explained that the formal charge against Yates was "deprivation of rights under color of law, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242."
Sperling said, "Charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Yates was indicted by a Federal grand jury on April 17."
He continued, "The indictment alleged that Yates assaulted an inmate, resulting in bodily injury, thereby willfully depriving him of rights secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America."
Allen, through his attorney the late Bill Ed Rogers, filed a claim against the county and the state for injuries he suffered. The claim was filed on Nov. 27, 2006. Allen alleges he was beaten by a county jailer while an Oklahoma Highway Patrolman, who arrested him, stood by and did nothing. Allen has asked for a total of $10 million, and the lawsuit names as defendants Yates, the Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority, and Sheriff Johnny Philpot. Members of the authority, which includes the county commissioners, and Philpot are represented by attorneys working through the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma (ACCO). An ACCO spokesman said Friday that the county will be represented in the civil lawsuit by the firm Collins, Zorn and Wagner in Oklahoma City. The civil lawsuit asks for $5 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Nothing has yet been decided in the civil action, the spokesman said.
Sperling said, "On June 25, 2006, at the Sequoyah County Jail in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, Yates punched, kneed and stomped an arrestee (Allen) on his head and face, which caused serious injuries, including a fractured orbital socket and severe lacerations that required stitches. County jailers are obligated to treat arrestees and inmates as our Constitution requires. Most do. This aberrant violence was properly brought to the attention of the FBI by Sequoyah County authorities. The case was investigated by the FBI. The matter was presented to the grand jury by attorneys from The Civil Rights Division and our office. The case was prosecuted in the district court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven P. Shreder accepted the defendant's guilty plea.
Trial attorneys Roy Conn and Michael Khoury from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and Doug Horn, first assistant U.S. attorney, represented the government.
