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A former Georgia Police Officer was sentenced to life in prison this week after being found guilty of murder earlier this month in the death of a suspect shocked repeatedly with a Taser while handcuffed.
Marcus Eberhart, who was a sergeant in the Atlanta suburb of East Point, did not speak after receiving his sentence. His co-defendant, former officer Howard Weems, was given a five-year sentence for lesser offenses, including involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.
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Eberhart and Weems shocked Gregory Towns, 24, with Tasers more than a dozen times in April when he refused to walk to a patrol car as he was being taken into custody after a reported domestic dispute, prosecutors said.
Eberhart, dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit and wearing shackles, stood as Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk said: “There is only one sentence allowable under the law. I sentence you to life.”
An autopsy found the direct cause of death was “electric stimulation” but also said Towns suffered from hypertensive cardiovascular disease at the time. Expert witnesses for the defense contended Towns was in ill health from an enlarged heart and high blood pressure, court records showed.
