Four more former Southern Regional Jail correctional officers were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in the death of an inmate in 2022.
Quantez Burks, identified in Justice Department news releases by his initials, died March 1, 2022, reportedly one day after being booked in the Raleigh County, West Virginia jail on charges of wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer. Officers in the case have been convicted of taking Burks to an area of the prison without cameras and assaulting him in retaliation for attempting to leave his assigned pod.
Mark Holdren, 41, of Beckley, was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison and Johnathan Walters, 33, of Rainelle, got 21 years — each for conspiring with other officers to violate the man’s civil rights, resulting in his death. They were sentenced to three years of supervised release after prison.
In addition, a judge on Thursday sentenced Corey Snyder, 30, to 19 years and seven months for conspiring with other officers to violate Burks’ civil rights by using unreasonable force.
Jacob Boothe, 27, got three years in prison for failing to intervene to stop fellow officers from assaulting Burks.
According to the Department of Justice, Snyder, Holdren and other officers brought Burks to an interview room where Walters joined them. There, they struck and kicked him, pulled and twisted his fingers and used pepper spray while the man was restrained and handcuffed. Boothe was present during the assault and did not try to stop it, the Justice department said.
Walters and other officers also carried Burks by his arms and legs and then swung his head into a metal door to open it, the release says, and then dropped him onto a concrete floor. Emergency personnel declared him dead not long after.
Altogether, six former officers have been indicted in the assault. Former officer Ashley Toney pleaded guilty last year to failing to intervene to protect Burks from the officers’ assault and was sentenced to six years and six months in prison. A jury found Chad Lester, a former lieutenant, guilty on three obstruction of justice charges for his role in conspiring to cover up the death. He was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison on May 15, 2025.
Two other former officers — Steven Nicholas Wimmer and Andrew Fleshman — pleaded guilty before the indictment to conspiring to use unreasonable force against Burks. Wimmer, 26, of Bluefield, was sentenced to nine years in prison. Fleshman is set to be sentenced early next week.
