Global Courant
Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped criminal charges against two hospital workers over the death of a man who was pinned to the ground while admitted to a Virginia mental hospital.
Seven Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and three Central State Hospital employees were charged with manslaughter in the March 6 death of 28-year-old Irvo Otieno. Video footage from the hospital showed them trying to restrain Otieno while he was handcuffed and handcuffed.
But on Tuesday, Dinwiddie County Commonwealth attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill said dropping charges against two hospital workers — Darian Blackwell and Sadarius Williams — “would serve justice more than any other way,” the Richmond Times reported. dispatch.
“The decision to drop the charges was tough, but not difficult,” Baskervill said in an email. “I believe this puts the prosecution of Irvo Otieno’s murder in the strongest position possible upon my departure.”
Baskervill previously announced that she will be resigning from her job, effective Tuesday, to attend graduate school in Paris.
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Rhonda Quagliana, an attorney for Williams, has argued in court documents that Williams’ role in restraining Otieno was “significantly different and does not support a manslaughter conviction”.
Charges are still pending against the seven deputies and a third hospital worker, Wavie Jones. In March, Baskervill said video shows Jones restraining Otieno’s head.
Otieno, a black man, was arrested by the Henrico County Police Department while suffering from a mental health episode. Days later, he died in hospital while deputies and hospital staff restrained him.
Criminal charges for the death of a psychiatric patient have been dropped against two hospital employees.
An autopsy revealed that Otieno died of asphyxia.
The Times-Dispatch reports that hospital video shows Blackwell and Williams practicing Otieno’s restraint for nearly four minutes, with Williams stationed at Otieno’s head and Blackwell at Otieno’s feet, before walking away. A few minutes later they intervened again to hold Otieno’s feet.
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Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney, represents Otieno’s family. Otieno’s mother, Caroline Ouko, has said her son was “tortured” before he died.
Lawyers for several of the defendants have argued that their clients were merely trying to restrain Otieno and had no intention of killing him. They have said that their clients did not realize he was having trouble breathing.
A judge ruled in May that the 10 defendants could not all be tried together. However, Dinwiddie Circuit Judge Joseph Teefey Jr. did not exclude the possibility of holding joint processes for some of them.
