A federal jury in St. Louis convicted former Northwoods, Missouri police officer Samuel Davis on April 28, 2026, on three counts arising from the 2023 beating of a handcuffed suspect [1]. The case reached trial in the Eastern District of Missouri following a federal investigation that centered on bodycam footage gaps and witness accounts of the incident [1]. A co-defendant, former officer Michael Hill, was acquitted of all charges by the same jury [1].
The evidence showed that Davis drove the restrained suspect to an empty field, where he pepper-sprayed him, struck him repeatedly with a baton, breaking his jaw, and deployed a Taser [1]. Davis then turned off his body camera [1]. Prosecutors charged both officers with conspiracy, but the jury convicted Davis alone, on counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, witness tampering by misleading conduct, and falsifying records in a federal investigation [1]. The acquittal of Hill on all counts, including the conspiracy charge, produced a split verdict between the two defendants [1].
Davis faces sentencing on the three convicted counts, though no sentencing date has been publicly scheduled as of the verdict date [1]. Deprivation of rights under color of law carries a statutory maximum enhanced when the offense results in bodily injury, and the jaw fracture sustained by the victim may bear on the sentencing calculation [1]. No post-trial motions or appeal filings had been publicly reported at the time of the verdict [1].