Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill Going To Prison - Not Sure About This One

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Victor Hill, Clayton County's former top lawman, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, a judge ruled Tuesday.

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In federal court, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross sentenced Hill to a year and a half in prison with 6 years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service.

In October 2022 a federal jury in Atlanta convicted Hill on six of seven counts of violating the constitutional rights of detainees inside the Clayton County Jail from December 2019 to May 2020 by ordering them held in restraint chairs for hours shortly after their arrests.

Prosecutors had petitioned the judge to sentence Hill to at least 46 months in prison, while Hill's defense team asked for no prison time.

During the sentencing hearing, four character witnesses asked Judge Ross for leniency for Hill, including a former inmate named Roderick Didon. Didon told the court Hill had become "a father figure" to him during his time in the jail and helped him get off drugs and turn his life around.

Interim Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen, who is running in the special election to replace Hill this month, also testified as a character witness.

Prosecutors, though, argued that while people may have good things to say about Hill, those comments were not evidence in the trial against the former sheriff.

Hill's defense attorney, Drew Findling, pointed out what he sees as hypocrisy by the Department of Justice after hearings in the U.S. Senate last summer found "inhumane" conditions inside federal prisons including rat infestations. Findling also decried the use of solitary confinement in those facilities.

"What is the point of incarcerating Victor Hill?" Finding asked, labeling Hill as "a shiny object" for the prosecution.

The former sheriff himself addressed the court and contended that his forced retirement and loss of his POST certification was punishment enough for his crimes.

Hill is also a polarizing figure. Ross said she received many letters from people both advocating for and against the former sheriff, including those who claim he wrongfully terminated them.

"You are either a hero or a villain," Judge Ross told him.

Based on Hill's testimony during the trial and social media posts made afterwards, Ross said "I'm not sure whether or not you've learned your lesson."

While the Department of Justice celebrated the sentence and said they hope it will bring closure to the victims, Findling said his team plans to appeal Hill's conviction on two grounds.

First, they believe the unusual circumstances surrounding the jury's four days of deliberations could be compelling. One juror was brought in for questioning in court after fellow jurors accused him of being difficult.

Second, Findling said the DOJ never gave Hill notice that use of a restraint chair could lead to criminal charges.

As part of Hill's sentence, Judge Ross said he is not allowed to work in law enforcement in any capacity until the completion of his supervised release, including in an advisory or consulting role.

Sheriff Hill called Howell to try to intervene and the conversation became heated. When Howell tried to contact Hill again, Hill obtained a warrant for Howell's arrest on a charge of harassing communications. Howell turned himself in a few days later.

Footage shows Hill arriving about an hour later and speaking to Howell in the hallway. Less than a minute into the conversation, Howell was placed into a waiting restraint chair.

According to a 2018 policy approved by Hill, restraint chairs "may be used by security staff to provide safe containment of an inmate exhibiting violent or uncontrollable behavior and to prevent self-injury, injury to others or property damage when other control techniques are not effective." The sheriff's office restraint chair policy explains that officers should remove someone from the device "when they have determined that there is no longer a threat to self or others, or the inmate must be transported to another facility."

Multiple witnesses, however, testified that when Sheriff Hill ordered someone into a restraint chair, it was understood that person was not to be released for four hours, the maximum allowed under the policy.

During the trial, two former jail detainees testified that deputies kept them in restraint chairs for hours, leaving them in pain and causing them to urinate on themselves while they were bound.

One of them testified it felt "like torture."

Sheriff Hill took the stand in his own defense and testified that he stood by his decisions to restrain the detainees, telling jurors he "acted lawfully."

The jury, however, disagreed in six of the seven instances, convicting him for violating the rights of Arnold, Howell, Desmond Bailey, Raheem Peterkin, Walter Thomas and a 17-year-old, who FOX 5 has chosen not to identify.