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John Wooten, an inmate at the jail, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault for attacking officers in December last year and in January. Wooten was being held at the jail on a felony criminal mischief charge dating back to an incident last December at the Grasslands Homeless Shelter in Valhalla.
On Wednesday, Wooten was sentenced to seven years in state prison, the maximum allowable sentence. The guilty plea last month came days after another officer had to be treated in the emergency room following an assault by another inmate at the jail.
Following the guilty plea, Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr. said that “corrections officers do a dangerous and important job. They should know that any attack on any one of them within the County Jail will be prosecuted and we will see that justice is done.”
“(This) plea sends a strong message -- assaulting any member of our correctional staff is unacceptable and will be dealt with swiftly," Westchester Department of Correction Commissioner Joseph Spano said. "It will also carry serious consequences, including a lengthy prison sentence.
"Further, the handling of these two assaults on correction officers demonstrates the continued collaboration between all sectors of Westchester’s law enforcement community.”
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