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No Damages for Georgia Prisoner Left Paraplegic After Prisoner Attack

A former Georgia prisoner won a liability claim against a guard at the Ware State Prison, but was not awarded damages. While serving a life sentence, Henry Leroy Martin was told by guard Timothy Bagley to remove another prisoner’s clean laundry that had hung in a dormitory where it was stored for several days.

Martin told Bagley that he had been threatened to be killed by a group of prisoners if he touched the laundry. Bagley told him to follow the order. As he tried to comply, Martin was hit with a metal combination lock inside a sock. The blow to his head caused a neurological injury that left Martin comatose for 40 days with intermittent periods of consciousness.

The injury left Martin a paraplegic. He is permanently confined to a wheelchair with neuropathy in his hands and feet. Although Martin was on parole at the time of trial, he did not attend. The jury’s July 23, 2008, verdict found Bagley deliberately indifferent to the risk of harm to Martin, but did not award damages. Martin was represented by Atlanta attorney McNeil Stokes and Waycross attorney James Hardin. See: Martin v. Bagley, USDC, D. Ga., Case No: 5:06-CV-00018-JE6.

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Related legal case

Martin v. Bagley

Please see the brief bank for documents related to this case.