A Cook County jail guard accused of beating a detainee with handcuffs was acquitted Friday in a bench trial, with a judge finding that the veteran sheriff’s officer’s testimony was more believable than that of the man he allegedly battered.
Video of corrections officer Reginald Roberson punching 29-year-old inmate Jamiah Stuckey in the intake area of the jail on Dec. 29, 2021, were “damning” and showed the veteran jail guard striking Stuckey with handcuffs over his fist, said Judge William Gamboney on Friday.
Both Roberson and Stuckey testified throughout the trial, but Gamboney said he credited the 54-year-old Roberson’s version of events. Gamboney said Stuckey seemed “strident” on the stand, and that prosecutors revealed mid-trial that the inmate may have believed that if Roberson was convicted it would mean that Stuckey would no longer be under restrictions in the jail as an inmate who had assaulted a guard.
“The manner in which he testified was consistent with fabrication,” Gamboney said of Stuckey’s time on the stand, noting the inmate suffered only minor injuries. Charging documents described Stuckey’s wounds as a “laceration under his eye.”
Roberson had testified that he was acting in self-defense, as Stuckey had laid hands on him after a doorway had opened accidentally, surprising Roberson, who had been fidgeting with his cuffs.
Stuckey’s concerns about his “orange card” status came to light in an email disclosed to the defense last month, prompting a motion for a mistrial. After the verdict Friday, defense attorney Tracey Harkins said the case against her client was “fabricated.”
Roberson was placed on leave soon after he was charged in May 2023 with counts of aggravated battery and official misconduct, and the sheriff’s office moved to fire him. A Sheriff’s Merit Board hearing has been stalled while the criminal case was pending, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman said Friday. Stuckey’s federal lawsuit against Roberson and the sheriff’s office was dismissed in April, according to court records.
Outside the courtroom, Roberson said he would like to get his job back.
“This [verdict] has been a long time coming,” he said. “The video did look terrible, but it didn’t show him putting his hands on me. But everything comes to light eventually.”