West Virginia
West Virginia corrections officers plead guilty to not intervening as colleagues fatally beat inmate
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two West Virginia correctional officers accused of failing to intervene as their colleagues beat an incarcerated man to death in 2022 pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday.
Former Southern Regional Jail employees Jacob Boothe and Ashley Toney admitted to violating 37-year-old Quantez Burks’s civil rights by not protecting him from being physically assaulted by other correctional officers.
Toney and Boothe, who appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in Charleston, were among six former correctional officers indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023.
Burks was a pretrial detainee at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver who died less than a day after he was booked into the jail on a wanton endangerment charge in March 2022.
The case drew scrutiny to conditions and deaths at the Southern Regional Jail. In November 2023, West Virginia agreed to pay $4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by inmates who described conditions at the jail as inhumane. The lawsuit filed in 2022 on behalf of current and former inmates cited such complaints as a lack of access to water and food at the facility, as well as overcrowding and fights that were allowed to continue until someone was injured.
According to court documents, Burks tried to push past an officer to leave his housing unit. Burks then was escorted to an interview room where correctional officers are accused of striking Burks while he was restrained and handcuffed. He was later forcibly moved to a prison cell in another housing unit, where he was assaulted again.
The state medical examiner’s office attributed Burks’ primary cause of death to natural causes, prompting the family to have a private autopsy conducted. The family’s attorney revealed at a news conference last year that the second autopsy found the inmate had multiple areas of blunt force trauma on his body.
As part of their plea agreement, Toney and Boothe admitted to escorting Burks to an interview room, they watched as other officers struck and injured him while he was restrained, handcuffed and posed no threat to anyone. The two officers said officers struck Burks “in order to punish him for attempting to leave his assigned pod,” according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
In her plea agreement, Toney further admitted to knowing that the interview room to which officers brought Burks was a “blind spot” at the jail with no surveillance cameras.
Toney also admitted that she conspired with other officers to provide false information during the investigation of Burks’ death.
Toney and Boothe each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing hearings are scheduled for Nov. 4. Trial for the remaining four defendants is scheduled for Oct. 8.
Losing to Kansas State wiped away all hope for West Virginia to make the NCAA Tournament. That seems to be the clear consensus in the Mountain State, but is there actually still a chance? Well, I guess so.
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi still has West Virginia listed as a team to consider, the second team outside of the “next four out” grouping.
Lunardi’s current NCAA Tournament bubble
Last Four Byes: Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas, Ohio State
Last Four In: SMU, Santa Clara, New Mexico, Indiana
First Four Out: VCU, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati
Next Four Out: San Diego State, USC, California, Seton Hall
Next: Stanford, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona State
How is this even possible?
Short answer? I don’t really know.
My best guess as to why? Two things: the respect for the Big 12 and the opportunities left on the table, and two, an incredibly weak bubble.
Should West Virginia beat UCF on Friday, it will give the Mountaineers a 9-9 record in Big 12 play. That’s not as much of a guarantee to make the dance as having a winning record, but still, it’s an impressive mark, especially when, in this instance, they would have wins over Kansas, BYU, and sweeps over Cincinnati and UCF.
If you ask me, they still have too many bad losses for it to matter. I mean, even if they got red-hot out of nowhere and made it to the Big 12 championship game next week, is that enough? Potentially, but that’s a big IF.
The one thing WVU does have on its side is the number of Quad 1 wins, which they have five of. Virtually every other team in college basketball that has a minimum of five Quad 1 victories is expected to make the tournament. In that previously mentioned scenario, they would add at least one more Quad 1 win in the conference tournament, giving the committee something to think about.
The bubble is just incredibly weak, though. Like, how in the world is Auburn, who is 16-14 currently, the second team out of the field? Cincinnati, which WVU swept and has the same record as, is the fourth team in the “first four out” grouping.
At this point, the only path I see is for the Mountaineers to cut down the nets in Kansas City — good luck with that. We could be having a very different conversation if they didn’t lallygag their way through the first 30 minutes of the games against Utah and Kansas State.
Buckle up, Upshur County. Starting Friday, March 6, law enforcement officers across West Virginia will step up seatbelt enforcement as part of a statewide Click It or Ticket campaign running through March 23.
The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program (GHSP) announced the high-visibility mobilization as a warm-up to the national seatbelt campaign in May. The goal is to ensure every occupant — front seat or back, driver or passenger — is buckled on every trip.
“During this mobilization, law enforcement officers across West Virginia will be out in full force. They will be strictly ticketing drivers who are unbuckled or who are transporting children not properly restrained in car seats,” said Jack McNeely, Director of the GHSP.
The numbers behind the campaign are sobering. In 2023, 40% of passenger vehicle occupants killed in West Virginia crashes were unrestrained. The state’s seatbelt usage rate has also slipped — from 91.9% in 2024 to 91.6% in 2025.
Rural drivers face elevated risk despite a common assumption that country roads are safer. In 2023, 65% of the state’s traffic fatalities occurred in rural areas, compared to 35% in urban centers.
Under West Virginia law, wearing a seatbelt is required. A citation carries a $25 fine, though McNeely says the real point isn’t the penalty.
“Click It or Ticket isn’t about the citations; it’s about saving lives,” he said. “A ticket is a wake-up call. It is far less expensive than the alternative — paying with your life or the lives of your family and friends.”
For more information about the West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program, visit highwaysafety.wv.gov or call 304-926-2509.
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WCHS) — A West Virginia man accused of threatening to attack President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers was federally indicted this week.
Cody Lee Smith, 20, of Clarksburg was indicted on two counts of threats to murder the president, one count of influencing and retaliating against federal officials by threat of murder and one count of influencing a federal official by threat of murder, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Smith is accused of making a series of public posts on Instagram encouraging and threatening the murder of Trump, those who support him, Israelis and “all government officials,” the news release said.
The indictment also alleges that Smith sent a direct message via Instagram to Donald J. Trump, Jr., stating he would kill his father by cutting his “jugular.”
In a phone call with the ICE tip line, Smith also threatened to kill ICE agents in Clarksburg and employees staffing the tip line.
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Smith faces up to 5 years for each of the presidential threat charges and faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each of the remaining counts.
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