A South Carolina sheriff who ordered a deputy to repeatedly shock a noncompliant inmate with a Taser was found not guilty of federal civil rights violations.
“Thank the good Lord, thank the good Lord, I’m probably going to go to sleep thanking the good Lord,” former Malboro County Sheriff Charles Lemon said outside the courthouse.
He was arrested and suspended in 2021 for an incident from the previous year, where he was filmed on body camera video ordering a deputy to shock inmate Harrel Johnson six times, shouting, “Pop it to him.”
Lemon, whose term was slated to end this year, isn’t running for re-election.
The FBI and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigated the incident, and the state of South Carolina originally filed charges against Lemon and his deputy but dropped them in March 2024.
Lemon was eventually charged in federal court with deprivation of civil rights.
At trial, prosecutors argued Lemon was never Taser certified and shouldn’t have ordered a deputy to use the weapon, while a member of the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy testified that officers are only allowed to use a Taser on someone three times.
During the week-long trial, Lemon argued he intervened in the Johnson matter because he knew the man’s family and thought he could be useful in getting Johnson, who had a history of mental health problems, to enter his cell.
A criminal justice expert for the defense argued the six shocks weren’t excessive given that Johnson lunged at the sheriffs when his handcuffs were taken off.
“The bottom line is Charles did not want to plead guilty because he didn’t think he was guilty. He spent his entire life trying to be a good law enforcement officer, and this was a dangerous situation in which he felt — and the jury vindicated his feelings — that his actions were justified,” defense attorney Morgan Martin told local paper The State on Monday.
“We are disappointed with the outcome, but we respect the jury’s verdict,” the office of U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Adair Boroughs said in a statement to the paper.
Lemon’s deputy, Andrew Cook, pleaded guilty to a federal charge earlier this year.
The state attorney general’s office told Queen City News it is considering whether to pursue renewed charges.
