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Hancock sheriff candidate found guilty, still on ballot

Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register photo by Janet Metzner Former Hancock County Sheriff's Lt. Mark Cowden leaves the courthouse Monday afternoon with family members after a jury convicted him of a federal charge of deprivation of rights under the color of law. He remains out on bond.
Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register photo by Janet Metzner
Former Hancock County Sheriff’s Lt. Mark Cowden leaves the courthouse Monday afternoon with family members after a jury convicted him of a federal charge of deprivation of rights under the color of law. He remains out on bond.

WHEELING, W.Va. –Voters can still elect former Hancock County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mark Cowden to the sheriff’s seat come Nov. 8, even though a federal jury convicted him Monday of using excessive force against an arrestee.

That’s because the deadline has long passed in order to remove Cowden’s name from the ballot, said Briana Wilson, communications director for the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office.

The ballot-change deadline was 84 days ago, she said in a statement Monday, adding that “If Mr. Cowden were to be elected in this year’s general election (Nov. 8), another candidate for that office could contest the election based on his ineligibility.”

Monday, a federal jury found Cowden guilty of using excessive force against a West Virginia State Police trooper’s arrestee, Ryan Hamrick, last year as Cowden helped escort Hamrick from a patrol car into the sheriff’s office. Cowden was convicted of the depriving of rights under the color of the law, an offense that resulted in bodily injury for Hamrick. Under the color of law means he used excessive force while in official duty as a law enforcement officer.

Cowden’s sentencing could be up to 10 years in prison, according to federal code.

The jury found Cowden not guilty of the second count of his June indictment: falsifying a record.

Defense attorney Michael Nogay gave an impassioned closing statement to the jury, empowering them to tell “the government they are wrong” in charging a man who has served 26 years in protecting the community, for trying to protect himself and others around him the night of Jan. 27, 2015; and wrong in putting him through the stress of a federal trial.

Nogay recalled the testimony of Timothy Dimoff, a national expert on the Action-Response Continuum that has become the national standard for helping police recognize levels of resistance or aggression and formulate a proper response. Based on reviewing case discovery, including videos from the sheriff’s office cameras, Dimoff deemed Cowden’s actions that night as appropriate for the level of Hamrick’s aggression and resistance that Dimoff saw in videos of the incident.

Cowden testified that he smashed Hamrick into a wall inside the sheriff’s office in order to get Hamrick’s head away from him, as Hamrick was trying to resist arrest, became aggressive, tensed his muscles and tried to head-butt him.

But the prosecution said Cowden used excessive force in order to punish Hamrick for disrespecting him: a tendency of Cowden’s they say they also found in two other cases during Cowden’s career.

“Love your country … but never, ever be afraid to tell your government it is wrong,” Nogay said tearfully, his voice breaking, during his closing statement Monday. “If you want to put a man in jail based on false testimony, you can do that,” he said, noting that he believes the FBI intimidated the law enforcement officers who testified. “It’s wrong to intimidate deputies. It’s wrong to put this man who protected us, through this,” he said.

The prosecution said Cowden violated one of the most basic Constitutional rights of Hamrick’s. “No one should be abused by a law enforcement officer,  said Nicholas Murphy, of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. An officer must be held accountable when he “abuses that trust as the defendant did.”

Those abuses include using excessive force and injuring Hamrick, he said.

Nogay told the jury to consider that the prosecution offered no expert witnesses to attest to whether Cowden used an appropriate level of force, and whether Cowden’s actions created injury to Hamrick. “Their case is so weak,” Nogay said, noting there was “overwhelming doubt” in the prosecution’s case.

But the prosecution said an expert witness was not necessary. “Why do we need any expert at all,” said Jarod Douglas of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia. “Do we need an expert to say don’t slam somebody’s head against the wall? This is a man who totally disregarded the other human beings that were there,” he said.

Nogay said after the trial that he would rather not comment. Just outside the courtroom, Cowden wrapped his arms above and around two of his family members in an intimate, tight embrace as all three sobbed. He remains under his current bond conditions, said U.S. District Court Judge Frederick P. Stamp.

During a news conference outside the courthouse after the trial, U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld explained the significance of the verdict. “Mark Cowden made a promise to all citizens to serve and protect, and he broke that promise when he used excessive force against Mr. Hamrick in January 2015.

“This case is important because it shows that we are going to hold law enforcement officers accountable when they take actions such as this, but it’s important to note that his actions don’t reflect upon the vast majority of police officers who act with great distinction and each and every day work bravely on the streets of Hancock County and the United States of America.

“Sentencing could be in November or December, following a pre-sentence investigation, Ihlenfeld said. “We will seek a lengthy prison sentence for Mr. Cowden at this time.”

The case is unusual for several reasons, Ihlenfeld said. First of all, Mr. Cowden’s status as a candidate for elected office, … it’s rare that we are prosecuting someone that’s on the ballot, and … we don’t see many cases where excessive force is alleged to have been used,” he said, noting that he would have moved for a federal investigation earlier, but he didn’t hear of the local investigation until March 2016.

“The police officers in this region and in this state are well-trained, and this is a rare occurrence in West Virginia. But when it does happen, we are going to be there to investigate and hold those accountable who might have crossed the line in the handling of an arrestee.”

Cowden testified that he believes the federal government was informed of the case by some people who didn’t like that he retired in order to run for sheriff against his former boss, incumbent Sheriff Ralph Fletcher.

However, Ihlenfeld said he learned of the local investigation through Brooke County Prosecutor Joseph Barki II.

See more from The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register. 

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