A former state prison sergeant has been convicted in the assault of an inmate with a baton.

A Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff jury on Tuesday convicted 60-year-old Joe L. Binder of first-degree assault.

Binder’s trial began last week before Circuit Judge David Carpenter. The jury began deliberations of Friday, resumed those deliberations Monday and returned the guilty verdict just before noon today.

Binder will be sentenced on June 4. Following his conviction, he was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Kaemi Calderson Velez and Brent Butler was represented by Birmingham attorney Scott Morro.

The assault happened Jan. 30, 2021, at William Donaldson Correctional Facility, sending two inmates – including Ephan Moore – to the hospital with injuries. The other inmate injured was well-known prison activist Robert Earl Council.

Binder and two other ADOC correctional officers – two of which were injured during the altercation – were immediately placed on leave and all three later charged with first-degree assault on Moore.

The other two officers charged Cordaro Melton, 38, and Daryl Brown, 40. They have not yet gone to trial. Binder was their supervisor.

Videos circulated on social media showing a large amount of blood on the prison floor and inmates coughing from lingering pepper spray, or another chemical agent, in the air, the Associated Press reported at the time.

The FBI was brought in to assist in the investigation.

The incident prompted officials to require ADOC supervisors to wear body cameras while on duty.

Moore, a 33-year-old from Mobile, pleaded guilty in 2013 to first-degree robbery in Dale County and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was incarcerated at Donaldson when the altercation erupted that Saturday.

Following the prison fight, Moore was charged with second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer for stabbing Brown with an inmate-knife. Moore last month pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison to run concurrent with his robbery sentence.

Moore, who testified last week during Binder’s trial, is now held in the Limestone Correctional Facility.