Quantez Burks Case: Convictions, Cover-Up, and Civil Lawsuit

Quantez Burks, a 37-year-old pretrial detainee, was beaten to death by correctional officers at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, on March 1, 2022, less than 24 hours after he was booked in. The Quantez Burks case has produced federal convictions of eight former officers, with sentences ranging from three to 21 years in prison, and state second-degree murder charges filed in October 2025 against four of them. A civil lawsuit against the jail’s medical contractor was partially settled in January 2025.

How Burks Ended Up at the Jail

Beckley Police arrested Burks on February 28, 2022, after he told officers he had fired a gun at his tenant’s cat.¹ He was charged with wanton endangerment and obstruction. His family says he could not be bailed out because he was considered too intoxicated, and was taken directly to the Southern Regional Jail. According to his family, Burks told the arresting officer, “Don’t take me to the SRJ where I will disappear.”²

The Beating in the “Blind Spot”

On March 1, 2022, Burks tried to push past a correctional officer to leave his assigned housing pod. Officers restrained him and moved him to an interview room staff referred to as a “blind spot” because it had no surveillance cameras.³ Federal prosecutors said the room was routinely used by officers to assault inmates away from video recording.⁴

Inside the interview room, a group of officers kicked and punched Burks, slammed his head into a metal table, pulled and twisted his fingers, and pepper-sprayed him while he was handcuffed and posed no threat.³ Corey Snyder put Burks in a chokehold and took him to the ground.⁵ During transport to another housing unit, officer Johnathan Walters swung Burks’s head into a metal door to open it.⁶ Officers dropped his unresponsive body onto a concrete cell floor. Emergency medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene.⁷

Homicide Ruling After a Second Autopsy

The West Virginia state medical examiner’s office initially attributed Burks’s death to natural causes, and the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation officially listed “heart disease” as the cause in records released in late 2022.⁸ His family, who said photos of his body showed it was “bruised and swollen from head to toe,” commissioned a private autopsy.⁹ The independent examination found injuries consistent with being beaten while handcuffed, including broken bones and extensive bruising, and concluded the death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head, neck, torso, and extremities combined with cardiovascular disease.²

The state medical examiner’s office ultimately ruled the manner of death a homicide, finding that Burks suffered a heart attack brought on by the stress of the assault.⁹

The Cover-Up

Federal prosecutors alleged that after the killing, officers engaged in a coordinated effort to conceal what happened. Former lieutenant Chad Lester, who supervised officers at the jail, played the central role. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lester threatened subordinate officers with violence and retaliation to keep them quiet, added false statements to multiple officers’ reports, instructed staff to give investigators a fabricated cover story, and personally lied to both internal and federal investigators.¹⁰ Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston said that “on the defendant’s watch, correctional officers killed an inmate, and the defendant conspired with them to cover up their crimes.”¹¹

Federal Convictions and Sentences

The case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. Eight former correctional officers were charged with federal crimes. Seven pleaded guilty. Lester was the only one who went to trial. His four-day trial concluded on January 27, 2025, and a federal jury convicted him of three felony obstruction charges: conspiracy to tamper with witnesses, witness tampering, and making false statements.¹² Seven co-defendants who had already pleaded guilty testified against him.¹³

By July 14, 2025, all eight officers had been sentenced:

Johnathan Walters, 33, received 21 years for conspiracy to violate Burks’s civil rights resulting in death. He admitted to participating in the beating in the interview room and to swinging Burks’s head into a metal door during transport.⁶
Mark Holdren, 41, received 20 years on the same conspiracy charge. He admitted to delivering multiple knee-strikes during the initial restraint and joining the group assault.⁷
Corey Snyder, 30, received 19 years and seven months for conspiring to use unreasonable force resulting in death. He placed Burks in a chokehold, helped bring him to the interview room, and participated in striking, kicking, and pepper-spraying him.¹⁴
Chad Lester, 35, received 17 years and six months, plus three years of supervised release, on the three obstruction counts for orchestrating the cover-up.¹⁵
Steven Nicholas Wimmer, 26, received nine years, plus three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to use unreasonable force.¹⁶
Andrew Fleshman, 23, received eight years and four months, plus three years of supervised release, on the same charge. He was the eighth and final officer sentenced, on July 14, 2025.¹⁷
Ashley Toney received six years and six months after pleading guilty to violating Burks’s civil rights by failing to intervene.⁴
Jacob Boothe, 27, received three years, also for failing to intervene. He was present during the assault in the interview room and made no effort to stop it.⁴

State Second-Degree Murder Charges

After the federal sentencings, Raleigh County prosecutors filed state charges in October 2025 against four of the officers. Corey Snyder, Steven Wimmer, Andrew Fleshman, and Mark Holdren were each charged with second-degree murder and felony conspiracy.¹⁸ The other four federal defendants — Walters, Boothe, Toney, and Lester — were not listed on the Raleigh County indictment. As of early 2026, no arraignment or trial dates for the state charges have been publicly reported.

Civil Lawsuit Against the Jail’s Medical Provider

The Burks family also pursued civil litigation. In February 2024, they filed suit against PrimeCare Medical, Inc., the company providing health care at the jail. The case, captioned Cooper v. PrimeCare Medical, Inc. in the Southern District of West Virginia, alleged PrimeCare staff failed to treat Burks for elevated blood pressure and chest pain, and that nurses conspired with guards to falsify medical records and cover up abuse.¹⁹ Following mediation, the estate reached a settlement with the individual PrimeCare employees, who were voluntarily dismissed from the case in January 2025. Remaining claims against PrimeCare Medical as a company face uncertainty because the firm filed for bankruptcy.²⁰

Conditions at Southern Regional Jail

The killing did not occur in isolation. Southern Regional Jail had long been documented as overcrowded and understaffed. At least 25 people died at the facility between 2018 and 2023, including 12 in 2022 alone. An April 2022 inspection by a state emergency response team documented broken toilets, no running water, exposed electrical wiring, and inmates sleeping on concrete floors.²¹

A separate class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of inmates alleged people held at the jail were denied drinking water and forced to sleep on cell floors in toilet water. The state agreed to a $4 million settlement in November 2023, funded by state insurance policies, covering roughly 9,200 inmates held at the facility between September 2020 and mid-2024.²² The agreement came after a federal magistrate recommended a default judgment against the state for intentionally destroying evidence, including grievances and emails between jail officials.²³

1
Yahoo News. Allegations Emerge in Quantez Burks Death
2
WV Gazette-Mail. Family of Man Beaten to Death at SRJ Hopes He Inspires Change
3
The New York Times. West Virginia Jail Beating Officers Sentenced
4
WV Public Broadcasting. Two More Officers Sentenced in Jail Beating Death
5
U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia. Memorandum Opinion, United States v. Chad Lester
6
U.S. News & World Report. Former West Virginia Officers Sentenced to Decades in Prison
7
WV Public Broadcasting. Former Correctional Officers Sentenced for Southern Regional Jail Inmate Death
8
CBS News. Southern Regional Jail West Virginia Indictment in Jail Death of Quantez Burks
9
Yahoo News. Quantez Burks Mother Offers Response
10
WV Public Broadcasting. Second Officer Sentenced for Inmate’s Death at Southern Regional Jail
11
U.S. Department of Justice. Former West Virginia Supervisory Correctional Officer Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison
12
West Virginia Watch. Quantez Burks Coverage
13
JURIST. Former Jail Supervisor Sentenced to 17 Years for Coverup of Fatal Assault of West Virginia Inmate
14
West Virginia Watch. More Former WV Correctional Officers Get Prison Time for Assault That Killed Inmate
15
WCHS-TV. Former Southern Regional Jail Supervisor Sentenced Following Deadly Beating of Inmate
16
U.S. Department of Justice. Former West Virginia Supervisory Correctional Officer Sentenced to More Than 17 Years in Prison
17
WV Metro News. Eighth and Final Former Correctional Officer Sentenced for Role in Beating Death of Inmate
18
WVVA. State Charges of Second Degree Murder Filed Against COs in Quantez Burks Death
19
WVNS-TV. Quantez Burks Family, Their Attorneys Want U.S. Department of Justice to Expand Investigation
20
Prison Legal News. Sixth West Virginia Jailer Found Guilty After Detainee Death; Estate Dismisses Claims Against PrimeCare Medical Employees
21
Mountain State Spotlight. Jim Justice Southern Regional Jail Investigation
22
Mountain State Spotlight. Southern Regional Jail Lawsuit Settlement
23
News and Sentinel. Settlement Details in Southern Regional Jail Class Action Case Released