California Convict Sentenced To Prison For Assaulting Detention Officers

by DOJ Press

LAS VEGAS – A convicted felon detained at the Nevada Southern Detention Center (NSDC) was sentenced today to three years and five months in prison for assaulting two officers before a riot at the facility.

Mekivil Julius Franklin, 51, of California, pleaded guilty on December 21, 2021 to two counts of assault of a federal officer. In addition to imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon sentenced Franklin to three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, on May 31, 2020, detention officers at the NSDC responded to a physical altercation between two detainees in a cell block. After officers broke up the fight, a group of detainees surrounded them. Franklin first sucker punched an officer in the face and knocked him unconscious, and then he punched another officer in the face and body.

After the assaults committed by Franklin, detention officers vacated the cell block. Detainees proceeded to initiate a prison riot. Franklin was an active participant in the riot, and he was ultimately among the last group of detainees to surrender. At the time, Franklin was housed at NSDC temporarily while in transit to his final Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, having been convicted and sentenced to 41 months imprisonment for Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition in the Northern District of California.


Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans for the FBI made the announcement.


This case was investigated by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Fang prosecuted the case.

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