Probable cause found in attack case
ELKINS — Probable cause was ruled to have been met Wednesday in the case of a Huttonsville Correctional Center inmate accused of attacking a correctional officer at the facility.
The case against Willis James Wilson, 30, who is charged with one felony count of unlawful assault on an officer, will now be bound over to the Randolph County Circuit Court for presentation to a grand jury.
The alleged victim, Timothy Kittle ,who has been a correctional officer for more than 12 years and oversaw Wilson for the previous six to eight months, testified regarding the attack during Wednesday’s hearing.
“I was securing the doors on the unit at the top of the hour, which was roughly three o’clock on this date. It’s the inmates’ responsibility to be out of their cells if they want out when I secure the doors. Mr. Wilson done been in his cell and shut his door so when I went by he kicked his door,” Kittle said. “I come back to talk to him, opened the door to talk to him and he became upset because I wouldn’t let him back out on the pod, because once you are in you are supposed to stay in, and he became upset and hit me in the head and hit me several other times.”
Kittle said he sustained injuries including lacerations above and below his left eye, a fractured orbital bone and a fractured nose, requiring him to be transported to Davis Medical Center before later being transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.
Randolph County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Leckta Poling asked Kittle to describe how he felt at the time of the attack.
“In fear for my safety,” Kittle responded to the inquiry.
Wilson’s defense counsel, James E. Hawkins Jr., cross-examined Kittle.
“Do you recall having a conversation with (Wilson) during this process about his daughter, who was killed the day before in a drunk-driving incident?” Hawkins asked.
“No, sir. I do not,” Kittle responded.
“Are you saying it didn’t occur or that you did not (say it)?” Hawkins asked.
“It did not occur,” Kittle said.
“Do you recall telling him that you wouldn’t even let Jesus Christ himself out of the cell because he missed the…,” Hawkins asked as Kittle interrupted the question, saying he did not say anything like that.
During closing arguments, Poling requested Randolph County Magistrate George M. “Mike” Riggleman make a finding that probable cause had been met.
“Your honor, the state would ask that the court find probable cause based upon the testimony in this matter that Mr. Kittle was acting in his official capacity as a correctional officer at Huttonsville Correctional Center on March 1, 2017,” Poling said. “That he was attacked, that he suffered cuts and wounds, broken bones including his orbital socket and his nose, and that those injuries were caused by the defendant, Willis James Wilson, while being an inmate at that facility.”
Hawkins asked that probable cause not be found, citing that according to West Virginia code, for the charge of unlawful assault on an officer the state has to show there was a specific intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill the officer, which he did not believe existed in this case because Wilson only allegedly struck him with his fists.
“Punching is a battery. The severity of the wound doesn’t make it rise to the level of the intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill. That requires a specific intent, a specific state of mind,” Hawkins said. “There is no history here between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Kittle as was testified to… It’s a battery on a correctional officer. That’s what it is and that’s the way it should be charged. Our perspective is it’s not a felony, it’s not an unlawful assault, it’s a battery and that’s the evidence.”
Riggleman made the ruling that probable cause had been met in the case.
According to a police report generated by investigating officer Cpl. J.R. Wince of the West Virginia State Police, at approximately 3:10 p.m. March 1, Kittle was on duty as a correctional officer and addressed Wilson, who was in his cell.
After a brief conversation inside the cell, Wilson exited and spoke with Kittle again on the catwalk of the dormitory, police said. Wilson then turned and attacked Kittle, striking him multiple times in the face.
On surveillance footage, Kittle can be seen extending his arms in an attempt to defend himself but Wilson continued to strike him in the face, according to the report.
After the attack, Wilson walked away from Kittle, faced the other inmates in the pod and raised his arms as if he was flexing his muscles before removing his shirt and attacking Kittle a second time, the report states.
Kittle attempted to go into Wilson’s cell and shut the door to defend himself. At that time, additional correctional officers secured Wilson, police said.
Kittle did not strike or attempt to strike Wilson at any point during the altercation, according to the report.
Kittle was transported to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, where he was treated for a double fracture of his left orbital bone as well as numerous contusions and lacerations, the report states.
At the time of the alleged incident, Wilson was serving a sentence for a second-degree murder conviction out of Raleigh County. His projected release date had been May 10, 2030.
Also in Randolph County Magistrate Court Wednesday:
• After hearing testimony, Riggleman ruled that probable cause had not been met in the case of Matthew Christian Farrell, 31, of Beverly.
Farrell was charged with one felony count of grand larceny which was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the case can be brought back up at a later date.
Poling represented the state while Farrell appeared with Timothy Prentice as defense counsel. Riggleman presided.