Correctional officer from Auburn charged with fatal beating

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama officials say a former correctional lieutenant has been charged with murder in the beating death of an inmate at Ventress Correctional Facility.
Attorney General Luther Strange and Department of Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas announced the arrest on Tuesday of 37-year-old Michael Anthony Smith of Auburn, who is being held at the Lee County jail on $500,000.
Smith is charged in the death of 24-year-old Rocrast Donnell Mack. The indictment charges that Smith intentionally beat Mack to death.
Mack was taken to a hospital in Troy after the Aug. 4, 2010 beating and was transferred to a hospital in Montgomery, where he died the following morning.
The Alabama Bureau of Investigation found there was possible criminal conduct by correctional officers, and two were fired and four others resigned.