Lisa Autry

A jury has found Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton guilty on two counts of witness tampering stemming from the arrest of a suspect who claims he was beaten.  The same jury Thursday night returned not guilty verdicts for two other law enforcement officers. 

After eight hours of deliberations, a jury acquitted Eric Guffey on all four counts against him.   Guffey helped subdue suspect Billy Stinnett who led Barren County officers on a dangerous car and foot pursuit on February 24, 2010.  The officers were accused of using excessive force and covering it up to the FBI.  Louisville Attorney Brian Butler represented Guffey and called the accusations against him shameful.  Butler said if anything, his client was a hero that day.

"Eric Guffey stopped him from running through ditches, around roadblocks, and running citizens off the road," stated Butler.  "If he wouldn't have had the foresight to block that road, there's no telling what would have happened in Barren county.  And then Eric got out of that truck and ran after a meth head who was violent."

Also acquitted on all charges was Deputy Aaron Bennett, who was represented by Glasgow Attorney Buddy Alexander.

"It's obviously going to be closure for my client and his family.  Chris' family is going to be in turmoil from now until August and possibly thereafter," said Alexander.

Sheriff Chris Eaton was charged in an eight-count federal indictment and was found guilty on two counts of witness tampering.  He left the U.S. District Courthouse in Bowling Green without comment.  He will be sentenced August 1 and faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.

The case against Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton and two other officers is expected to go to the jury Thursday. Eaton, Deputy Aaron Bennett, and Barren-Edmonson County Drug Task Force Detective Eric Guffey are accused of beating a suspect and engaging in a cover-up. 

Testimony ended in the week-and-a-half long trial with none of the officers testifying in their own defense. 

In closing statements to the jury, Federal Prosecutor Roy Conn said three men sworn to uphold the law broke the law. He recanted eyewitness statements that suspect Billy Stinnett was on the ground in handcuffs, but the alleged assault continued. 

The prosecution relied heavily on former deputy Adam Minor, who pleaded guilty to one charge and agreed to testify against the other officers. 

The defense has begun calling witnesses in the trial of Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton and two other law enforcement officers.  The men stand accused of beating a suspect in handcuffs and lying about it to the FBI. 

Before calling their first witness, defense attorneys for Sheriff Eaton, Deputy Aaron Bennett, and Drug Task Force Detective Eric Guffey, asked for acquittals or at least the dismissal of some charges, but the motions were rejected by U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley. 

The defense brought to the witness stand Ron Lafferty, a detective with the Barren-Edmonson Drug Task Force.  Lafferty said when he arrived on the arrest scene, suspect Billy Stinnett was already in handcuffs and he saw no one hit Stinnett.  He wrote a report and stressed that Sheriff Eaton never influenced what he put in the report, as another officer testified earlier in the trial. 

Prosecutors in the trial of Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton and two other southern Kentucky law enforcement agents have been calling FBI agents to the stand Tuesday.

Eaton, Barren County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Bennett, and Barren-Edmonson County Drug Task Force Detective Eric Guffey are accused of beating drug suspect Billy Stinnett after he was taken into custody, and then lying about it to federal investigators.

The three law enforcement agents took Stinnett into custody after he led officers on a high-speed, two-county chase on Feb. 24, 2010. Stinnett has admitted he was high on meth at the time of the incident, and a mobile meth lab was found in the back of the vehicle he crashed into a Glasgow church.

FBI special agent Michael Schaffer told the court he interviewed Detective Eric Guffey twice in one day following the alleged beating of Stinnett. Schaffer says Guffey told two different stories about whether Stinnett was on the ground or standing when he was struck by officers.

The government is on the stand in the federal trial of Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton, Deputy Aaron Bennett, and Detective Eric Guffey. The three are on trial in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green for using excessive force on a suspect and lying about it to federal investigators. 

Part of Monday’s testimony came from the FBI’s lead investigator on the case.  Special Agent Mike Brown interviewed the three officers at the Barren County Sheriff’s Office in April 2010, about two months after suspect Billy Stinnett was allegedly beaten after being handcuffed. 

Brown began each interview by reminding the officers that if they lied, they could be criminally charged.  Brown said he also gave each defendant an opportunity to make corrections to their written statements to the FBI, but each officer affirmed their report was accurate.  The reports, however, contained inconsistencies between the defendants and eye witnesses at the arrest scene.

Defense attorneys took Brown through a timeline of what they saw as shoddy investigative work, including failure to record interviews with the defendants and the fact a private citizen was asked to collect evidence from the scene. 

Agent Brown will resume his testimony Tuesday morning under cross-examination.