A former jail officer charged more than three years ago in connection with a security breach at the Clark County jail won’t face conviction.
Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull filed a motion earlier this month to dismiss the 2021 charges against former Clark County Sheriff’s Office employee David Lowe. He was accused of making a deal to allow men in custody access to keys in exchange for money. The men used the keys to access a women’s area.
Clark County has settled civil lawsuits totaling $370,500 with nearly 30 women who say they were threatened, harassed and in two cases sexually assaulted during the security breach. The settlement documents stipulate that the defendants don’t admit any wrongdoing. There have been no criminal charges filed related to those allegations.
Mull wrote in his motion to dismiss Lowe’s criminal charges that it was “in the best interest of justice that the case be dismissed.” The court approved the dismissal the following day.
“I was not entirely convinced that Mr. Lowe was guilty of the charges filed against him,” he told LPM News. That came after reviewing the evidence ahead of Lowe’s upcoming trial.
Mull said he wasn’t convinced Lowe’s confession about making a deal for the keys was reliable, and that statements from other people in custody at the time didn’t point to his guilt. He also reviewed other information that had come in since Lowe was initially charged, including from the civil lawsuits.
Lowe’s attorney, Eric Massey, said he was happy with the outcome, even though he was confident they would win at trial.
“I think that was ultimately the right decision for the prosecutor to make…based on the evidence,” Massey said. “I don’t think David should have ever been charged, so I’m glad, of course, that the prosecutor dropped it.”
Lowe was charged with felonies for official misconduct and for aiding, inducing or causing escape, and a misdemeanor for trafficking with an inmate.
According to court records, then-Detective Donovan Harrod said footage showed Lowe entering an area where incarcerated men were housed with a blood pressure cart. Harrod said incarcerated men then left the pod through a propped door and went into the office leaving with two items under their clothes.
Harrod said when he questioned Lowe, he said he was approached by a man in custody and asked to allow access to the pod office for keys, in exchange for $1,000. Lowe told Harrod he agreed to the deal, according to court records.
Mull, the prosecutor, said he doubted the validity of the confession when he watched the interview. When asked about the detective’s interrogation process, Mull said, “I’m not going to make a pronouncement on that,” saying he didn’t have confidence in the end result.
“I just wasn't convinced that when this young man admitted to what he admitted to, that that was an accurate and reliable admission and confession,” Mull said. “I had questions about it, and any time I have questions about someone's guilt, as a prosecutor, I just simply don't go forward.”
Mull also said statements from other people incarcerated there didn’t point to Lowe’s guilt. LPM News reviewed records that included excerpts from police interviews with several people in custody, including the person Lowe said he made a deal with to sell the keys. That person denied that claim.
In the course of the criminal case, Lowe’s police interrogation with Harrod was called into question by his previous attorney. In January 2023, the attorney asked the court to suppress as evidence any statements Lowe made during the interrogation.
The attorney said Lowe didn’t give the confession voluntarily, but was mentally and physically coerced, in violation of his state and federal rights.
The judge in the case denied the motion to suppress the evidence, writing in his order that “based on the totality-of-the-circumstances, there is not sufficient evidence to find that the defendant’s will was overcome, making his statements involuntary.”
Massey, Lowe’s current attorney, filed a motion to dismiss last year, arguing that the charges themselves were legally deficient. The court denied that due to the timing of the filing.
He said this week he’s never doubted Lowe’s innocence.
“I think the evidence in the case — the surveillance video, the video of the interrogation — I think all of that evidence strongly supports that belief and that ultimate truth,” he said.
For instance, Massey said the surveillance video shows the incarcerated men checking to see if Lowe was looking as they snuck out of the pod to a nearby office where keys were kept. He said he doesn’t believe they would have been moving that way if there was an agreement in place with Lowe.
Only one other person has been criminally charged in the case. Last January, Jordan Sykes, who was incarcerated at the time of the breach, pleaded guilty to a felony for theft.
Mull said incarcerated people moving to different parts of the jail does not warrant the crime of escape, but that it’s a violation of the rules of the facility to be handled administratively.
And while the civil lawsuits outline allegations of assault, Mull said he wasn’t presented with any evidence to consider criminal charges.
At the time of the breach, the jail was overseen by former Sheriff Jamey Noel, who was listed in the federal lawsuits in his capacity as sheriff. Other officers, including Lowe, were also part of the litigation. Current Sheriff Scottie Maples was later added to the lawsuits in his capacity as sheriff after he took office.
In August 2022, Noel’s administration launched a since-removed website to “detail the lies, misrepresentations, distortions and myths” about what happened during the breach, LPM News previously reported.
In 2023 and following his two terms as sheriff, Noel became the focus of a massive Indiana State Police investigation that included his time leading the sheriff’s office and in operating an EMS company. He pleaded guilty last year to 27 felonies including theft and tax evasion and is currently serving a prison sentence.
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