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Jury finds Caldwell guilty of
battery in Dozier officer
November 7, 2007
By Kate McCardell
Videotape
 A
Jackson County jury found Justin Caldwell guilty of battery on a
facility employee at the conclusion of his one-day trial on
Wednesday. Sentencing is set for Nov. 27 at 1:30 p.m.
Caldwell, 18, was accused of
battery on James E. Wooden, an officer at Arthur G. Dozier School
for Boys last February, where, at the time, Caldwell was a juvenile
resident.
The verdict came roughly 30 minutes
after the jury posed a question to the court.
The panel wanted to know the
difference between battery on a facility employee and the lesser
charge of battery.
Caldwell faces up to five years
behind bars on the offense. The lesser charge of battery would have
been a misdemeanor.
On the witness stand, Wooden said
Caldwell had pushed him with his elbow as he passed the guard in the
facility's dining hall.
Wooden said Caldwell walked on and
entered the food line, where Wooden approached him to "counsel"
Caldwell, who appeared to be upset over something.
Wooden said that was when Caldwell
"cussed" him and head-butted him, knocking off his Department of
Juvenile Justice hat.
Wooden said that, after the alleged
head-butt, he attempted to implement a "straight-arm take down," but
his feet and Caldwell's became entangled and both fell to the
ground.
Wooden claimed that after he stood
up, Caldwell, still on the ground, kicked him twice.
Caldwell's defense attorney Rick
Reno disputed Wooden's claims and, in his cross-examination of the
witness, used a demonstration in which he and Wooden lightly acted
out the incident.
Wooden, at 5'11, stood several
inches taller than Reno, 5'6, who, as observed by Judge William
Wright, was very close to the same height as Caldwell.
Reno said that Caldwell was too
short to reach Wooden's forehead or hat, claiming that Wooden's
accusation was highly questionable.
Reno also laid down on the floor of
the courtroom in the position Wooden alleged Caldwell was in when he
kicked Wooden.
The defense attorney, still on the
ground, said it was impossible for his feet to reach Wooden where he
stood.
Witnesses for the defense, which
included three Dozier residents, claimed Wooden acted unfairly. They
also claimed that Wooden slapped Caldwell in the forehead during the
incident.
State prosecutor Jonna Bowman
argued that the contusion observed on Caldwell's forehead by a
Dozier nurse after the incident was not caused by Wooden's hand,
rather it was made when Caldwell head-butted the officer.
In closing statements, Bowman asked
the jury why Wooden would risk his seven-year career with the
Department of Juvenile Justice by acting out toward Caldwell.
Similarly, in Reno's closing, he
asked the jury why Caldwell would act out in the manner for which he
was accused when he was only five months away from his release after
living in juvenile detention facilities for almost five years.
What happened later that day after
the incident involving Wooden may be more widely known in the
Panhandle.
Caldwell was escorted to the
Intensive Supervision Program, a one-room cottage used to hold
juveniles until they regain self-control.
In ISP, Caldwell was involved in an
altercation with Dozier guard Alvin Speights.
Speights was accused of battering
Caldwell and the incident in question was caught on surveillance
footage.
A Jackson County grand jury
exonerated Speights last September, saying "Speights was justified
in the use of force required to insure the protection and safety of
himself and others and that no criminal charges are warranted
against" him.
This conclusion, according to the
grand jury presentment, was made after reviewing testimony,
photographic images and video footage.
Caldwell's father, Mark Caldwell,
said he plans to continue "to pursue justice," claiming the grand
jury was not presented with all of the footage available.
He claimed Wooden's accusations
against his son were just an effort to cover up the incident that
occurred in ISP later that day.
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