Beaumont Police Officer Receives Probation for Official Oppression Conviction

Beaumont, Texas

A Beaumont police officer convicted of official oppression in a 2007 traffic stop was sentenced today to 90 days of probation.

James Cody Guedry was convicted by a jury in December. He had stunned unarmed passenger Derrick Newman twice with a Taser in an Aug. 24, 2007, traffic stop on a South End street.

Guedry could have received up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

His attorney, Mitch Adams, asked Judge John Stevens to sentence Guedry to only a $1 fine.

Former officer David Todd Burke, who was also found guilty of official oppression in September for repeatedly striking Newman with a baton during the same traffic stop, was sentenced to one year's probation. Burke, who is no longer employed with Beaumont police, is appealing his case.

The jury verdict "clearly states that the degree of force used against Newman in the particular circumstances of this case was unnecessary and constituted unlawful mistreatment."

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