NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A corrections officer with the Maury County Sheriff's Office was found guilty of obstruction of justice by a federal jury Thursday after he was charged last year with falsifying records related to the assault of a female inmate in his custody.
Columbia resident and corrections officer James Justice, a.k.a. James Stewart Thomas, 32, was indicted in May 2022 after he was charged with "falsifying records relating to non-consensual sexual contact that he had with a female inmate in his custody," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee in a statement released Thursday.
During the trial, it was discovered through testimony and evidence that Justice wrote an official report falsely claiming he reported an inmate making sexual advances towards him while the inmate was in his custody. He claimed that he reported the inmate's advances two Maury County Jail supervisors.
The falsified report also claimed that the two Maury County Jail supervisors both advised him not to write a report about the inmate's alleged advances. Justice also omitted from the report that he had a sexual relationship with the inmate after she was released from the Maury County Jail.
Justice will be sentenced Sept. 18, 2023 and faces up to 20 years in prison for his charge.
