Sentencing for corrections officer who pleaded guilty in Quantez Burks’ death is postponed

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — The sentencing of a former Southern Regional Jail corrections officer who pleaded guilty in federal court in November of 2023 to conspiracy charges in the death of Quantez Burks has been postponed from June 20, 2024 until August 10, 2024.

Andrew Fleshman and co-conspirator Nicholas Wimmer each pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges related to the death of Burks on March 1, 2022 at Southern Regional Jail.

Federal prosecutors stated in the charges against Fleshman and Wimmer that a group of corrections officers beat Burks and then lied to investigators and conspired to cover up their alleged roles in depriving him of his constitutional rights.

Both Fleshman and Wimmer agreed to testify against other corrections officers who allegedly assaulted Burks.

The trial for the corrections officers and their lieutenant begins in July, and the judge honored a request by Fleshman’s attorney for the court to schedule Fleshman to be sentenced after he had testified at the trial.

Federal prosecutors allege the group beat Burks while he was handcuffed and unconscious and then lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and others about his death.

Fleshman and Wimmer later cooperated with prosecutors, according to statements made in federal court during the November plea hearings.

Five officers, in addition to Fleshman and Wimmer, are charged with assaulting Burks and their lieutenant is charged with conspiring with them to cover up the beatings when investigators began asking questions.

Burks’ family and their attorney, Stephen New, have said that Burks was suffering a medical emergency and that the guards beat him instead of arranging for medical help.

In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court, the Burks family alleges a nurse at the jail was present when Burks was being beaten but did not provide medical help and that she suggested Burks could be injected with insulin to possibly explain his death.

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