MORGANTON, N.C. -- Two inmates have pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assaulting another inmate.
Barry Ronnie Carver Jr., 22, of Manson and Jonathan Lee Bryant, 25, of Morganton entered the pleas last week in Burke County Criminal Superior Court and were subsequently convicted of second-degree kidnapping and felony assault inflicting serious bodily injury.
The men were sentenced to between 31 months and 47 months in the N.C. Department of Adult Correction.
Carver and Bryant were serving time together at the Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility in Morganton in June 2010 when they attacked another inmate.
Carver had been arrested on statutory rape charges. Bryant was in custody at the time for pending breaking and entering charges.
According to Burke County Sheriff Steve Whisenant, former Sheriff John McDevitt was overseeing the jail at the time when Carver and Bryant attacked a fellow inmate.
"I started as jail administrator August 2010, a month after that had occurred," Whisenant said Wednesday. "But I had heard of the assault from others."
Whisenant was not certain of the details of the incident, but did confirm that no jail employees were attacked in the incident.
Carver was later convicted in August 201 for statutory rape charges in Burke County court. He was sentenced to between 14 and 18 years in that case. His most recent sentence will be served at the expiration of the 2011 conviction, the district attorney's office said Tuesday.
Special Agent Marc Sharpe of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation handled the investigation. Assistant District Attorney Frank Webster prosecuted the case. Judge Eric Levinson presided.
Copyright 2013 - The News Herald, Morganton, N.C.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
