Ex-county sheriff to appeal prison sentence, conviction

FORT SMITH — The former sheriff of Franklin County will present his argument next week against the sentence he received in federal court for physically abusing jail detainees.

The case of Anthony Boen, 52, is scheduled for oral arguments in the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Jan. 11, according to court records.

Boen, through his legal team, will attempt to persuade the appeals court to either reverse the U. S. District Court’s decision and dismiss all the charges against him, or reverse and send his case back to federal court for a new trial, according to a brief filed July 25. Barring these alternatives, Boen has asked the appeals court to reverse and send his case back for resentencing.

The federal government filed its own brief Sept. 14 that argued the appeals court should affirm Boen’s convictions and sentence.

BACKGROUND

U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks sentenced Boen on March 10 to four years in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Brooks said Boen would receive credit for time he spent in jail after his jury trial. The judge also imposed a $4,800 fine and a $200 special assessment.

A jury convicted Boen of two federal counts of deprivation of rights Aug. 9, 2021. These originated from two use-of-force incidents against detainees in 2018 that resulted in bodily injury.

One incident 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, according to Boen’s indictment. The other 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.

Brooks ruled Boen would be in custody before his sentencing due to being convicted of felony violent offenses.

Boen was indicted on three counts of deprivation of rights in November 2019. The jury acquitted him of accusations he punched detainee Justin Phillips of Panama, Okla., multiple times en route to the Franklin County jail in 2017 while Phillips was shackled in the back of the patrol car and not resisting.

Boen, who at that point had been Franklin County’s sheriff since 2011, was prohibited from entering the sheriff’s office and stripped of nearly all his duties per the conditions of his release from custody while awaiting trial. He continued to draw an $45,183 annual salary.

The Franklin County Quorum Court appointed Rickey Denton as sheriff effective immediately Sept. 9, 2021, after declaring a vacancy in the position a week earlier, according to the Franklin County’s county judge’s office. Denton served in the seat until Saturday, when Boen’s fouryear term expired.

THE APPEAL

Boen filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court on March 31, according to court records.

The brief Boen’s attorneys filed in the appeals court July 25 divides their argument for Boen’s appeal into multiple parts.

The first part of the brief states the district court committed an error when it refused to allow Boen to introduce evidence providing context as to why Greene was shackled to a bench in the county jail. The document attributes this situation to a lack of suitable space at the “decrepit” facility — something beyond Boen’s control — and argues the court’s refusal to allow Boen to present this context allowed the federal government to create bias in the jury against Boen.

The district court made another error when it allowed the government to introduce Franklin’s County’s “use of force” policy for uncertified detention officers, as well as an “inmate rights” form posted at the jail as evidence, according to Boen’s brief. It claimed these documents were irrelevant to any issue at Boen’s trial and invited risk of confusion in the jury.

Other accusations in Boen’s brief are that the district court was wrong to apply an “obstruction of justice enhancement” to Boen’s conviction concerning Greene during sentencing based on evidence presented during the jury trial and that there was insufficient evidence that Boen caused either Greene or English to sustain any “bodily injury” under federal law. It states Boen’s four-year prison sentence is “substantively unreasonable.”

The brief the federal government filed Sept. 14 refuted the allegations from Boen.

The arguments for both sides in Boen’s case will be heard by judges Raymond Gruender, Duane Benton and Bobby Shepherd Jan. 11, court records state.

An inmate roster on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website lists Boen as being held at a low-security federal institution in Bastrop, Texas. Thomas Saccente can be reached by email at tsaccente@nwaonline.com.