United States v. Oliver

608 F.Supp.3d 1113

UNITED STATES of America

v.Ulysses OLIVER, Jr.

CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 2:19cr127-MHT (WO)

United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division.

Signed June 17, 2022

David Nathan Reese, Assistant U.S. Attorney, US Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Eric M. Counts, U.S. Attorney's Office, Montgomery, AL, for United States of America.

OPINION

Myron H. Thompson, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Defendant Ulysses Oliver, Jr. pleaded guilty to an information charging him with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 242. At sentencing, the court granted a downward ‘variance’ of seven months, for a sentence of 30 months of imprisonment. It writes now to explain in more detail its decision regarding the variance.

I.

The charges here arise from a February 2019 incident in which Oliver, then employed as a Correctional Sergeant with the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC), beat two incarcerated men while their hands were cuffed behind their backs. One of Oliver's coworkers had caught the men scaling a fence outside the Elmore Correctional Facility in order to retrieve a stash of contraband, and had taken them to Oliver's supervisor, Lieutenant Willie Burks, III, who had put them in handcuffs and brought them to an observation room. Oliver, upon learning what the men had done, flew into a fit of rage. Without consulting his colleagues, he stormed into the observation room, dragged one of the men into a hallway, shoved him against a wall, knocked him to the floor, and beat him with his fists and feet, and a collapsible baton. Then he did the same to the other man. Lieutenant Burks and two other correctional officers stood by and watched. They made no effort to stop him. Instead, Lieutenant Burks remarked, simply, "[I]t's fair." Trial Transcript, Vol. II at 38, United States v. Burks , No. 2:19cr344-MHT (M.D. Ala. May 2, 2022), ECF No. 234.

The men were later brought to ADOC's healthcare unit, where it was determined that they had sustained serious blunt-force trauma to their backs, stomachs, legs, arms, and heads. One suffered broken bones, muscle strains, and the loss of mobility in his wrist; the other continues to suffer from chronic back and arm pain and migraine headaches.

II.

At sentencing, the court found that Oliver's criminal history category was I and that his total offense level, before any departure, was 28, for a U.S. Sentencing Guideline range of 78 to 97 months. See United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual ch. 5, pt. A (U.S. Sentencing Comm'n 2021).

The government moved for a seven-level downward departure for substantial assistance. See id. at § 5K1.1. In support of such a large departure, the government offered evidence that Oliver had been exceptionally cooperative at all stages of the investigation of his offense conduct. Oliver had called the warden to self-report, over Lieutenant Burks's objections, immediately after beating the two men. Had he not done so, the government lawyer stated, it is likely that his conduct never would have been prosecuted. Within days of the incident, he met with an investigative team for the government, and was so eager to confess wrongdoing that, in his initial interview, he began accepting responsibility even before the agents finished introducing themselves. Within a week of being charged, he pleaded guilty. And when the government prosecuted Lieutenant Burks, Oliver offered his complete assistance, including testifying in front of a grand jury and at trial. In light of this evidence, the court granted the government's motion, bringing Oliver's offense level to 21, and his sentencing range to 37 to 46 months. See id. at ch. 5, pt. A.

The court then turned to Oliver's motion for a variance. The parties presented evidence, and the court heard argument. The evidence reflected that Oliver has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by unsafe working conditions resulting from ADOC's failure to provide an adequate number of staff for its prisons. It also reflected that Oliver's PTSD contributed to his offense conduct; that ADOC had failed to screen him for mental-health issues; and that his supervisors had failed to give him the support that he needed, even when he indicated that he needed help. Based on the evidence, the court determined that, despite the atrocity of Oliver's conduct, a variance was warranted. It now elucidates its reasoning below.

A.

Prior to sentencing, Oliver was evaluated by a psychologist, Dr. Peggy Flanagan, who diagnosed him with major depressive order, alcohol-use disorder, and PTSD.

Dr. Flanagan determined that Oliver had experienced extensive childhood abuse that left him predisposed to mental-health issues. His parents divorced when he was three, and his mother remarried almost immediately. Both his father and stepfather were alcoholics. His mother singled him out among his siblings for emotional abuse, telling him often that he would amount to nothing and would be dead soon or else in jail, and refusing to buy him school supplies or presents on holidays. His mother and his stepfather also beat him, often and severely, with belts, shoes, switches, and electrical cords. He reported wanting to kill himself as a child, explaining that: "I was tired. I thought no matter what I did I was wrong. I could never get it right. I felt like I was a burden." Psychological Evaluation (Doc. 94) at 5.

Oliver's mental-health and substance-abuse problems, however, did not "coalesce," according to Dr. Flanagan, "until he was sustaining mounting stress associated with his work" at ADOC. Id. at 11. Oliver began working at ADOC in 2009, after spending the years following his high-school graduation working in manufacturing and trucking. He applied for the position because he had heard that it paid well, and because he needed money to support his young family. The department did not screen him for indicia of mental-health issues before offering him the job.

The facility to which Oliver was eventually assigned, Elmore Correctional Facility, is woefully understaffed. See Psychological Evaluation (Doc. 94) at 7. In his interview with Dr. Flanagan, Oliver explained that this understaffing has led to an "increase in drug trafficking, fights, stabbings, gangs, and other elements of violence." Id.^*

These conditions had a direct impact on Oliver's mental health and, according to Dr. Flanagan, were most likely the cause of his PTSD. Oliver was placed on a team tasked with intervening in incidents of violence. As those incidents mounted, Oliver suffered "increasing stress and trauma associated with fears of being harmed or killed at work," id. at 8, developed "paranoia towards others" and an "exaggerated startle response," and began "always having to have his back to walls [and] constantly tracking the physical movements of others," id. at 12. As he described it to Dr. Flanagan:

"I got to the point it was like, Lord, Jesus, how is this going to turn out today? Am I going to come back home? Not only for myself but for the other officers also. I know I keep throwing them in there, but as a supervisor I took it on me, so they could get home safely.... I couldn't turn it off, my mind would not stop thinking about that job. I couldn't rest ... I started drinking heavily to try to shut it down. I wasn't able to sleep because I was always so wired up and I didn't realize what was going on."

Id. at 8.

Oliver's wife and his wife's aunt, both of whom testified at sentencing, offered comments that supported what Oliver had expressed to Dr. Flanagan, namely, that his mental-health problems were a direct result of his experience working at ADOC. His wife explained that Oliver "didn't acquire his PTSD overnight," but rather over years working in ADOC's understaffed facilities. Rough Draft Sentencing Transcript at 18, April 8, 2022. And his wife's aunt, with whom Oliver is close, recounted becoming so alarmed by the apparent toll that Oliver's working conditions inflicted on him that she urged him, repeatedly, to take time off to convalesce. Oliver rebuffed her, explaining, tragically, that he could not take time off because his fellow officers so desperately lacked support.

B.

In addition to indicating that Oliver's working conditions at ADOC caused him to develop PTSD, the evidence in this case made clear that Oliver's PTSD contributed to his offense conduct. Dr. Flanagan found that his PTSD caused him to suffer "marked alterations in arousal or reactivity associated with ... traumatic events." Psychological Evaluation (Doc. 94) at 14. She explained that such reactivity often manifests in "irritable behavior and angry outbursts (with little or no provocation) typically expressed as verbal or physical aggression towards people or objects," id. (quoting Am. Psychiatric Ass'n, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 272 (5th ed. 2013)), and that "[i]t is possible to conceptualize Mr. Oliver's entire offense as an expression of this symptom," id. Oliver's own description of the incident was entirely consistent with this hypothesis: as Dr. Flanagan recounted, Oliver explained to her that, upon learning that his two victims had attempted to smuggle contraband into the prison, he "immediately and erroneously saw them as entirely responsible for the repeated traumas and dangers" that he had endured while working at ADOC. Id. He developed "tunnel vision," and his thoughts became "a blur." Trial Transcript, Vol. II at 159, United States v. Burks , No. 2:19cr344-MHT (M.D. Ala. May 2, 2022), ECF No. 234. "[A]ll the fights, the drugs, the stabbings, the inmates running scared for their lives, the parents calling, everything I've dealt with in that situation," he explained, "I took it out on those two inmates." Psychological Evaluation (Doc. 94) at 12.

Dr. Flanagan also pointed to evidence that, at the time of the offense, Oliver was under acute stress that may have exacerbated the symptoms of his PTSD. The day before the incident,...