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Former correctional Institute
officer faces 10 years
BY PAT GILLESPIE
The News-Press
FORT MYERS - A former corrections guard was convicted
Thursday of gouging out an inmate’s eye at Charlotte
Correctional Institute in 2008.
As his wife Colleen ran out of the courtroom balling,
William Hamilton Wilson, 26, fought back tears when the
jury’s verdict was read. Wilson faces up to 10 years in
prison after being convicted of depriving inmate Kelly
Bradley of his civil rights while acting as an officer.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11 and was taken
into custody, despite security concerns raised by his
attorneys.
“It’s always a kick in the gut when you don’t think
there’s enough evidence to convict,” said one of
Wilson’s attorneys, Russell Kirshy of Port Charlotte,
afterward. “But you have to respect the jury’s decision
after poring over evidence for more than five hours.”
On May 21, 2008, doctors ordered Bradley to be removed
from his cell by force because the inmate, who is
bipolar and schizophrenic, refused to see a mental
health expert and lodged a mattress between his cell
door and toilet. He was convicted in 2003 on charges of
burglary and grand theft in Seminole County.
An “extraction team,” comprising five officers and three
supervisors, assembled to get Bradley out of the cell.
As his arms and legs were being handcuffed, his right
eye was removed from the socket and dangled on his right
cheek. He had the eye removed that day and now has a
prosthetic one.
The trial came down to which theory of events jurors
believed.
Ultimately, they sided with a single whistle-blower
guard, who testified Wilson gouged out Bradley’s right
eye. He also testified that later, Wilson - who is white
- dismissed the action when confronted, referring to
Bradley, who is black, by a racial slur.
“He said, ÔWhat’s the big deal?” corrections officer
John Pisciotta testified. “He thought it was funny.”
Wilson testified in his own defense Thursday, denying he
harmed Bradley. He said he was friends with Pisciotta
before this.
“He accused me of something I didn’t do,” Wilson
testified.
Prosecutors tried to show the guards conspired to cover
up what happened to protect Wilson. Only one of the
eight guards involved in the incident - a lieutenant who
filled out his report in a different room than the
others - noted in his reports Bradley sustained
injuries. Wilson received and made calls to several of
the guards involved when they were testifying either to
investigators or the federal grand jury. All of the
guards who made or received calls from him testified
they “did not recall” what was said in those
conversations, but Wilson denied the conversations
related to what happened to Bradley.
Defense attorneys, however, contended every other guard
testified they didn’t see how Bradley lost his eye nor
did they see Wilson do it. They denied all the guards
would risk their own careers to save Wilson’s. Bradley
testified he didn’t know who gouged out his eye, but
denied doing it himself. He initially said he gouged out
his own eye.
“Nobody was covering up anything,” attorney David Dee
said in closing arguments. “They knew it would be
investigated.”
But Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy told
jurors the guards would have gotten away with the
coverup if not for Pisciotta.
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