Deliberations resumed this morning

CINCINNATI — After more than seven hours of deliberating, the jury charged with deciding the fate of three Lawrence County corrections officers was sent home for the day.

United States District Judge Timothy S. Black asked the 12 to return at 9 a.m. Thursday to resume deliberations in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio in Cincinnati.

The jury was handed the case Tuesday evening following a week’s worth of testimony from eyewitnesses, opinion witnesses and a 30-plus minute video.

Defendants in the case are Jeremy S. Hanshaw, Ronald S. Hatfield and Jason D. Mays, who were charged following an Aug. 19, 2014, incident in which the three allegedly mistreated an inmate, Larry Kinstler, who was booked into the jail on a disorderly conduct charge.

In January, a federal grand jury indicted the men. All three were charged with conspiracy against rights and deprivation against rights under the color of the law and aiding and abetting. The indictment alleged the three men “willfully combined, conspired and agreed with one another to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate (Kinstler) … in the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by one acting under the color of law.”

Hatfield and Mays were charged with knowingly covering up evidence while Hanshaw was charged with falsifying a use of force report and an incident report.