TUPELO — An attorney for a Mississippi man charged with killing a state trooper says the man was beaten in jail.
Jamie Franks, who represents 43-year-old Troy Anthony Eaton of Rienzi, told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that Eaton was beaten in the Tippah County jail days after he turned himself in for the Sept. 30 shooting.
FBI spokesman Brett Carr said the bureau investigating.
“We are aware of this incident and have been in touch with local authorities to determine if there have been any federal civil rights violations,” an FBI statement said.
Franks said Eaton was treated with staples around one eye and moved to Marshall County for safety. He remains jailed without bail.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore declined comment, while Tippah County officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
A capital murder charge against Eaton says he shot off-duty Mississippi Highway Patrol Trooper Josh Smith knowing Smith was acting as a trooper. Smith died after midnight Sept. 30 in a bottomland near the Hatchie River known among local as place to ride all-terrain vehicles and party.
Smith, 32, died of a single gunshot wound to the head. It appears Eaton was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle when he allegedly shot Smith, who was apparently standing outside the vehicle, Tippah County Coroner Chris McCallister has said.
Smith’s brother-in-law, 38-year-old Rickie Dale Vick of Michigan City, was also shot. Eaton has also been charged with aggravated assault in Vick’s shooting in addition to capital murder.
Officials have never given an on-the-record accounting of what they believe happened. Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Master Sgt. Ray Hall said last week that the investigation is ongoing.
Eaton’s attorneys, Franks and Bill Wheeler, have said a “multitude of witnesses” support the claim that Eaton was exercising his right to self-defense when the shooting happened.
“We are unsure about the details of why the altercation started,” Eaton’s wife, Lori Eaton, said Oct. 11 in a statement. “Anthony was protecting himself and two younger family members.”
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