Indictment Names D.C. Officer

Civil Rights Charge Brought in Man's Alleged Beating

D.C. police officer Jerome Merrill was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday on charges of violating a drug dealer's civil rights and beating him with his service pistol during an arrest.

Merrill, 31, who faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine if convicted, is accused of using unreasonable force by assaulting Wayne Morris during Morris's arrest in February 2005 at Seaton Market in the 1800 block of North Capitol Street NW. The officer is also charged with using a firearm in the commission of a crime.

Merrill, an officer with the D.C. police since 2004, is now assigned to the Institute of Police Science, the District's police academy. A D.C. police spokesperson declined to comment on his case or status.

Merrill and an unidentified officer arrested Morris on Feb. 11, 2005, shortly after Morris sold marijuana to an undercover officer, according to U.S. District Court records. Police later obtained a search warrant for Morris's residence on S Street NW, and on Feb. 19 they found a firearm, leading to a more serious federal weapons charge against Morris.

But prosecutors did not charge Morris with the weapons charge for four more months, until June 2005.

In defense papers filed in court, Morris's attorney said prosecutors told him at that time that they were investigating the two officers who arrested Morris. The defense attorney said prosecutors had a videotape showing Morris being beaten outside a store. He described it as a "very violent, physical and brutal assault that was inflicted on a defenseless Mr. Morris."

Morris pleaded guilty to the weapons charge in November 2005 and was sentenced this past February to 50 months in prison. The marijuana charge was dismissed.

Morris's last attorney of record, a lawyer with the Federal Public Defender service, did not return calls seeking a comment.

Merrill, a District resident, is expected to have his first appearance in federal court within the next two weeks to answer the charges.