Morgan Co (WOKI) – An inmate at the Morgan County Correctional Complex was found guilty of assaulting several officers.
District Attorney General Russell Johnson says 54-year-old Dolwin Cormia was convicted of aggravated assault and three counts of simple assault.
A pregnant officer gave a testimony of being punched in the face by Cormia and breaking her eye socket in June of 2023.
He’s also accused of attacking other officers after being asked to take off a belt that contained gang-related material.
Cormia, who is currently serving a life sentence out of Hamilton County for first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, is scheduled to be sentenced on the assault charges on June 20.
Complete release from Russell Johnson – 9th Judicial District, District Attorney General
A Morgan County jury found Morgan County Correctional Complex Inmate Dolwin Cormia (age 54) guilty after a two-day jury trial on all counts for assaulting four Tennessee Department of Corrections Officers during an incident in the dining room at the prison. Cormia, a native of Los Angeles who was serving a ‘life’ sentence for first degree murder out of Chattanooga, was convicted as charged for aggravated assault and three counts of simple assault.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Edwards elicited testimony from one of the officers, a female who was seven months pregnant at the time, about how Cormia punched her in the face breaking her orbital socket and how Cormia viciously kicked other officers. As Edwards argued at closing that Cormia attacked the officers over the female officer requesting Cormia, a known gang member, to remove a belt that contained gang related insignia. Edwards and ADA Anthony Rogers used security video to show the jury the brutal assault. Cormia and his defense counsel tried to claim that the request was unreasonable that the female officer ‘laid hands on him’ when moving him towards the wall.
This investigation was conducted by the TDOC Office of Investigation and Conduct. During breakfast on June 7, 2023, while working the chow hall during breakfast, the Correction Officers were to start implementing a rule that the inmates had been notified of approximately two weeks earlier whereby an inmate’s belt had to meet certain criteria and could not have various colors or insignia on them. When Sgt. Novem asked Inmate Cormia to give her his belt, Cormia defied the request. Cormia was then ordered to place his hands on the wall. Inmate Cormia did so initially then he removed his hands from the wall and began to violently attack Correction Officers Morris, Novem, and Colston for a period of a couple of minutes. Correction Officer Darrell Bunch entered the chow hall after hearing the commotion and loud noises like the walls were collapsing. Bunch was immediately attacked by Inmate Cormia until Correction Officer Bunch along with Correction Officer Morris and others were able to subdue Inmate Cormia.
Correction Sgt. Novem testified at trial that at the time of the attack she was seven months pregnant and suffered a fractured orbital socket and had persistent, extremely painful headaches and still suffers from them as the date of the trial along with other injuries. The jury found Inmate Cormia guilty of aggravated assault against Corrections Sgt. Novem. The jury found Inmate Cormia guilty of the charged offenses of simple assault as to the three other correction officers.
As stated previously, Defendant Cormia is currently serving a life sentence out of Hamilton County with his sentence end date on January 27, 2049. [Life sentences for adults in Tennessee are a minimum service of 51 years]. The sentencing in this matter has been set for June 20, 2025. District Attorney General Russell Johnson noted the “valuable assistance and support of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Warden Shawn Phillips, the TDOC transport and security team involved, led by Kevin Peddicord, and the four Corrections Officer witnesses, without whom this outcome would not have been possible”. General Johnson went on to point out that, “The purpose of using these resources to prosecute violent inmates, even inmates serving sentences of this length, is to maintain the security of those men and women that work at MCCX as well as to uphold the rule of law”. This case was prosecuted by ADA Jonathan Edwards, ADA Anthony Rogers (a native of Morgan County), and with the assistance of victim witness coordinator, Tami Legg.
