Former Columbus Co. detention officer sentenced for inmate assault

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) -- A former Columbus County detention officer is heading to prison for his role in a jailhouse assault.

The United States Attorney's Office says Senior US District Judge Malcolm J. Howard sentenced former Sgt. Danny Ray Duncan, 63, to 20 months in prison followed by two years supervised release. Terry McMillian, an inmate involved in the attack, will spend 46 more months behind bars followed by three years supervised release.

"No one is above the law. Those responsible for the beating of this inmate must face consequences for their criminal conduct," US Attorney Thomas G. Walker said in a statement.

Last fall Duncan admitted that while working on the night shift at the Columbus County Dentention Center in Whiteville on August 2, 2010, he placed a pretrial detainee into a cell knowing there was a substantial risk that the inmates in the cell would assault the man. Duncan also admitted he acted with deliberate indifference to the risk of assault, and that the detainee suffered bodily injury as a result of the assault.

McMillian, 26, who pleaded guilty on December 5, 2011, to conspiring to commit an offense against the United States, was an inmate at the detention center at the time of the assault. Prosecutors say McMillian and another inmate, brutally beat the detainee.