Three former Georgia deputies were cleared of wrongdoing in a criminal trial where they were accused of repeatedly tasing a man until he died.

The three deputies — Henry Lee Copeland, Michael Howell, and Rhett Scott — were fired from their jobs at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office following an internal investigation into the in-custody death of Eurie Lee Martin on July 7, 2017.

Temperatures reached 100 degrees that day when 58-year-old Martin walked 30 miles from Milledgeville in Baldwin County to Sandersville in Washington County.

At one point, he stopped at a home to ask for water, but the homeowner called 911, telling a dispatcher he didn’t know whether Martin was “crazy, drunk, or what.” Martin suffered from schizophrenia and lived in a group home at the time.

‘Egregious’: Jud

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