SCLC #651 · Barber 1959: off-duty start, station-house continuation, Hancock acquitted
Georgia officer Barber’s 1959 federal brutality conviction arose from a jewelry-store repossession dispute that began while he was off duty and in plain clothes, then reportedly continued at the station house. Teal was the victim; another officer, Hancock, was accused of failing to intervene and later holding him, but Hancock was tried and acquitted. The Commission records Barber’s fine and suspended sentence, but not the precise jury theory making the conduct official; no general rule about all off-duty assaults follows.
Archive: 1959-georgia-barber-off-duty-jewelry-dispute-stationhouse-beating-hancock-acquittal. Craft: off-duty start ≠ non-official as a rule; co-defendant acquittal ≠ principal innocence; suspended ≠ served; theory of officiality unreported.
Standing three hundred fifty-three · SCLC through #651.