Sheriff files motion seeking acquittal, new trial

FORT SMITH — A western Arkansas sheriff has asked the federal court to either acquit him on all three felony charges filed against him or order a new trial on the two charges of which he was found guilty.

Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Boen’s attorney, Russell Wood of the Wood Law Firm in Russellville, filed a motion for judgment of acquittal or a new trial in the U. S. District Court on Monday, according to court records.

Boen was convicted by a jury of two federal counts of deprivation of rights under color of law Aug. 9. The charges stemmed from two use-of-force incidents against detainees in 2018 resulting in bodily injury.

One of the incidents involved Boen ordering detainee Brandon English of Ozark to the detectives’ office, where he pushed English to the floor and grabbed his hair or beard on Nov. 21, 2018, according to Boen’s indictment. The other incident involved Boen hitting detainee Zachery Greene of Ozark “multiple times in the head” while Greene was shackled to a bench in the county jail and not resisting on Dec. 3, 2018.

Boen was indicted on three counts Nov. 20, 2019, but he was found not guilty on one of them.

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks ruled Boen would be in custody before sentencing because he was convicted of felony violent offenses that injured his victims.

The motion filed by Wood argues the federal government failed to present sufficient evidence during Boen’s trial to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Boen committed any of the acts described in the two counts of the indictment.