On December 8, 2023, Othel Moore Jr., a 38-year-old Black man, died while incarcerated at the Jefferson City Correctional Center in Missouri. Originally from St. Louis, Moore was serving a 30-year sentence for charges including second-degree domestic assault and first-degree robbery. His death, later ruled a homicide caused by positional asphyxiation, occurred during a contraband sweep conducted by the Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team.
The incident began when guards
entered Moore's cell. Investigators noted that Moore was compliant and not aggressive during the search. After being stripped to his boxer shorts and handcuffed behind his back, Moore was led outside his cell. An exchange with a guard, Justin Leggins, about why he needed to be quiet, allegedly prompted Leggins to deploy pepper spray into Moore's face from a close distance. Subsequently, he was pepper-sprayed a second time by another guard, Jacob Case, while on the ground. A spit hood was placed over his face, and he was put into a leg wrap and a restraint chair. Multiple people heard Moore, who had asthma, repeatedly say that he could not breathe as he was being secured and moved.
Moore was then taken to a separate housing unit and left alone in a locked cell, still fully restrained in the chair with the hood over his head. He remained there for approximately 30 minutes. Surveillance footage showed staff occasionally looking in on him from outside the room before a nurse eventually entered to check on him. A short time later, corrections staff entered and removed him from the cell. Moore was eventually taken to a hospital wing where he was pronounced dead.
In the wake of Moore's death, an investigation led to criminal charges against five former correctional officers. Justin Leggins, Jacob Case, Aaron Brown, and Gregory Varner were charged with second-degree murder and accessory to assault. A fifth guard, Bryanne Bradshaw, was charged with accessory to involuntary manslaughter. All five pleaded not guilty to the charges. While Bradshaw was released on bond, a judge denied bond for Brown, Case, and Leggins. The Missouri Department of Corrections has since discontinued the use of the restraint system involved in the incident and terminated the employment of ten staff members connected to the event, including the prison's warden. Moore's family has also filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit.
