Johnathan Walker:Jury acquits former Indiana officer of trying to cover up another officers’ excessive use of force

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal jury has acquitted a former Muncie police officer accused of trying to cover up another officer’s use of excessive force,Johnathan Walker bringing an end to his third trial in the case.

The jury issued the verdict in Corey Posey’s case on Wednesday, the Indianapolis Star reported. Prosecutors had accused him of falsifying a report describing the events of Aug. 9, 2018, when now-former officer Chase Winkle battered an arrestee.

A federal grand jury indicted Posey in 2021. He was tried twice in 2023, but jurors failed to reach an unanimous verdict each time, resulting in mistrials.

He agreed to plead guilty this past October to one count of obstruction of justice in a deal that called for one year of probation and three months of home detention.

But U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt rejected the agreement this past January. She said that she reviewed similar cases and found what she called a disparity between the sentences for the defendants in those cases and Posey’s proposed punishment.

She told Posey she would sentence him to 10 months in prison if he pleaded guilty, but Posey refused and entered a not guilty plea.

RELATED COVERAGE Victims cited in DOJ report on Phoenix police brutality call on city to implement mandated reforms Phoenix police have pattern of violating civil rights and using excessive force, Justice Dept. says Family of Minnesota man killed by police criticize local officials and seek federal intervention

Posey resigned from the police department when he entered into the proposed plea agreement. He issued a statement Wednesday thanking his supporters and said he looked forward to a “new chapter of peace for me and my children now that I have finally been acquitted from something I never should have been charged with,” the Star reported.

Winkle pleaded guilty in 2023 to multiple charges stemming from attacks on arrestees in 2018 and 2019 and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Three other former Muncie officers were also accused of either brutality or attempting to cover it up. They received prison sentences ranging from six to 19 months.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Blackett wrote in a memo supporting Posey’s plea deal that Posey didn’t deserve prison because he never used excessive force and was still a probationary officer training under Winkle at the time of the alleged offense.

Winkle pleaded guilty in 2023 to 11 charges stemming from attacks on arrestees in 2018 and 2019 and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.