Former prison major guilty of covering up beating of cuffed and shackled inmate

BATON ROUGE, La.  -- Former Major Daniel Davis was convicted Friday on charges of conspiring to cover-up the brutal 2014 beating of a shackled and handcuffed inmate at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, according to a statement issued Saturday by the U.S. Justice Department. He was acquitted on charges related to the actual beating.

Over the course of a three-day trial, a federal jury heard evidence that 41-year-old Davis and three other prison guards tried to cover up the incident in which they "repeatedly punched, kicked, and stomped an inmate, causing serious injury including a bloody gash under his eye, a dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung," according to the statement. 

Davis was found guilty on four counts related to the cover-up, including obstructing justice by writing a false report; obstructing justice by corruptly persuading his subordinates to lie; and committing perjury by lying under oath in a federal civil deposition. 

Two of the former guards testified for the government. Davis was acquitted on charges that he violated the prisoners' rights by beating him.