Citizen Report No. 1782875290 - 66112177

This disclosure memorandum details a documented pattern of material misrepresentation and deceptive statement practices by Officer DeMarco Lashon Easterwood regarding his status as a primary defendant in an active federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit. This information is disclosure-mandatory under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) and Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), as it directly impacts the officer’s credibility, truthfulness, and integrity as a witness in criminal proceedings.

In December 2023, while seeking employment as a law enforcement officer with the Columbus Police Department, DeMarco Lashon Easterwood made a material, deceptive representation to municipal hiring and background evaluation authorities.

Specifically, Easterwood disclosed the existence of an ongoing civil rights investigation and litigation stemming from his prior employment as a corrections officer at the Pickens County Jail in Carrollton, Alabama—specifically regarding the December 2021 custody death of inmate Glenn Foster Jr. However, Easterwood explicitly assured Columbus hiring authorities that his involvement was nominal, minimal, and that legal actions were currently underway to have him completely removed and dismissed from the lawsuit. Relying on these assurances of imminent dismissal, the Columbus Civil Service Commission cleared Easterwood for the entry-level eligibility list on December 11, 2023.

Subsequent review of federal court records demonstrates that Easterwood’s statement was a deliberate misrepresentation of his legal standing and liability:

1. At the exact time Easterwood was assuring the Columbus Police Department that he was being removed from the litigation, a comprehensive federal civil rights lawsuit had been finalized (Anny Pamela Foster v. Pickens County Sheriff's Office, et al., Case No. 7:23-cv-01647-ACA). Easterwood was explicitly named in his individual capacity as a principal actor who allegedly participated in the physical abuse, tasing, and denial of emergency medical care that resulted in the inmate's death.
2. The federal judiciary entirely dismantled Easterwood’s assertions of imminent removal. On December 5, 2024, Federal District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon issued a formal Memorandum Opinion and Order explicitly denying Easterwood's motion to dismiss. The federal court ruled that the allegations of excessive force, failure to intervene, and deliberate indifference to emergency medical needs against Easterwood were legally sufficient to proceed to a jury trial.

The core of a Brady analysis of an officer's background is whether the officer has demonstrated a propensity for untruthfulness to an official body.

Easterwood did not merely omit a passive piece of history; he actively fabricated a legal trajectory (his imminent dismissal from a custody-death lawsuit) to induce the Columbus Police Department into hiring him under false pretenses.

Easterwood’s willingness to mislead a hiring authority regarding a federal civil rights lawsuit involving a homicide in custody constitutes a profound character defect regarding honesty. In any future criminal prosecution where Officer Easterwood is a material witness, the defense is constitutionally entitled to use this narrative to impeach his credibility, arguing that if the officer would lie to his own department to secure a badge, his statements under oath cannot be deemed reliable.

Officer DeMarco Lashon Easterwood remains an active, primary individual defendant in a federal wrongful death and civil rights suit. His official statements to the City of Columbus stating otherwise constitute a verified material misrepresentation. This narrative must be disclosed to defense counsel in all criminal matters relying significantly on Officer Easterwood’s observations, reports, or testimony. 

See: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68066832/foster-v-pickens-county/