Former Humphreys County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Deputies Indicted for Federal Civil Rights Offenses

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Nashville, Tenn., returned a one count indictment charging former Humphreys County, Tenn., Sheriff’s Deputies Timothy Wayne Hedge, 50, and James Benjamin Lee, 32, for violating the civil rights of an individual on Jan. 23, 2011, in Humphreys County.

The indictment alleges that on Jan. 23, 2011, Hedge and Lee, while acting under color of law and while aiding and abetting each other, violated an individual’s right to be free from unreasonable seizures by kicking and striking an individual with a collapsible baton during the course of arresting the individual, resulting in bodily injury.

An indictment is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant should be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Hedge and Lee could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine plus three years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Clarksville, Tenn., Office of the FBI’s Memphis Division and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Harold B. McDonough and Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Adriana Vieco.