WHITE PLAINS - An appeals court has reversed a now-dead federal judge and reinstated the conviction of a jail guard in the beating death of an inmate.

Hon. Charles Brieant had tossed out a White Plains jury's 2006 guilty verdict against Paul Cote, ruling that some of the testimony from inmates at the Westchester County Jail was "patently incredible."

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the inmates agreed that Cote had kicked, punched or stomped inmate Zoran Teodorovic, a mentally ill homeless man who died 14 months later. It says Brieant, who died in July, "usurped the jury's role in determining witness credibility."

The appeals court reinstated the civil-rights conviction Wednesday and sent the case back to the district court for sentencing. Cote faces up to 10 years.