Family of CSH patient reiterates federal prosecution after murder charges are downgraded
The family of a mental patient who died in law-enforcement custody last year at Central State Hospital is re-stressing its call for U.S. Justice Department involvement after Dinwiddie’s top prosecutor downgraded charges against the remaining three defendants from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
When asked by The Progress-Index late Thursday about a renewed call, Mark Krudys, co-counsel for Irvo Noel Otieno’s family, replied, “Yes.
“As a matter of fact, [Otieno’s mother Caroline] Ouko asked me when our statement was issued, ‘Mark, do you think now that DOJ will get involved?'” Krudys said in a text message.
Thursday, updated records in Dinwiddie County Circuit Court indicated that Commonwealth’s Attorney Amanda Nicole Mann reduced the single charges against former Henrico County deputies Kaiyell Sanders and Brandon Rodgers, and former CSH security guard Wavie Jones. They were the final three of originally 10 deputies and hospital security guards charged with the March 6, 2023, death of Otieno.
The downgrades also carry lesser punishments, from up to 40 years in prison on second-degree murder to a maximum 10 years for involuntary manslaughter.
Otieno, a 28-year-old Henrico County man of Kenyan descent, suffocated to death on a CSH intake unit floor after the deputies and guards piled on top of him and held him down for more than 11 minutes. The defendants claimed that Otieno, who appeared to be incognizant of his surroundings on hospital surveillance video, resisted their restraints and attempted to escape, prompting the move to pin him to the floor.
Mann was not available for comment on the decision to downgrade the charges.
Twists and turns
The decision was the latest in a series of legal wranglings in the case.
Originally, former Dinwiddie commonwealth’s attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill sought charges against all the defendants after viewing the video. All 10 were indicted on the charges, but Baskerville later dropped charges against two of the ones she deemed to be less culpable in Otieno’s death.
Baskervill later resigned as commonwealth’s attorney to study overseas. She was replaced on an interim basis by Jonathan Bourlier, who in turn was defeated by Mann in last November’s general election.
Earlier this month, Mann announced she was not prosecuting the charges against five of the remaining eight defendants – two security guards and three deputies. The move was roundly criticized by Otieno’s family and supporters, and relaunched calls for federal prosecution of all defendants. Baskervill had said she would have welcomed the Justice Department to assist with the case, while Mann has remained silent about it.
Trials against the remaining three defendants will begin later this year in Dinwiddie County.
Videos proof of ‘malice’
In a statement Thursday afternoon, Krudys expressed the family’s disappointment in the reduction of the charges, noting that the video showed “ample evidence to show malice” in the death of her son.
“Ms. Ouko fears that Irvo’s story will become one of many instances where justice was denied for Black men whose lives were stolen through law enforcement actions,” Krudys said in the statement. He added that Mann informed the family of the decision prior to filing it.
The surveillance video showed the defendants atop Otieno as he was lying face down on his stomach. It was only after a hospital staffer notice Otieno was limp and not moving that the deputies and guards rolled him over.
“It is well known throughout the law enforcement and medical communities that holding a subject in a position of prone restraint for prolonged periods of time can be deadly,” Krudys said. “Compressing a person in a prone position with weight on their back and/or abdomen restricts their ability to breathe and can result in asphyxiation.
“Indeed, many of the defendant deputies admit that Mr. Otieno was restrained for a significant amount of time while on his stomach. A witness to the incident said that the defendants were directed by staff more than once to place Mr. Otieno on his side.”
A pattern of harsh treatment
Otieno’s family said the CSH treatment was a continuance of how deputies dealt with him while being held at the Henrico County West Jail. Video from the jail depicted Sanders “punching a defenseless, pepper-sprayed Irvo an unconscionable 15 times while Mr. Otieno is laying on the floor, pinned under at least three deputies,” Krudys statement read. Seven of those punches were rapidly thrown against Otieno’s head “which bounces off of the holding cell floor with each strike,” according to the statement.
Otieno had been taken into custody March 3, 2023, after being implicated in a burglary in his Henrico neighborhood. Officers found Otieno in an impaired mental state at his residence and being attended to by his mother.
He was taken by authorities to a Henrico hospital emergency room where Ouko said she was denied the opportunity to be with him by hospital personnel despite him calling for her. She said her son was removed from the emergency room through a rear door and taken to the jail, making the ER visit the last time she would see her son alive.
That action prompted the Virginia General Assembly to adopt bipartisan legislation that would permit family members of mental patients incapable of making their own decisions to be present at all times during emergency treatment. Both the House of Delegates and the state Senate unanimously passed what became known as “Irvo’s Law,” and Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed it.
Nationwide notice
The Otieno case drew notice across the nation to the 2020 incident that saw George Floyd killed after a Minneapolis police officer subdued him with a knee across Floyd’s neck. Floyd’s words of “I can’t breathe” became the mantra of numerous demonstrations around the U.S. -- including a major days-long protest in Richmond – highlighting what the participants said was racial inequality in both the criminal justice and mental health systems.
Nationally known civil-rights attorney Benjamin Crump joined Krudys as the Otieno family’s co-counsel. Civil-rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy at Otieno’s funeral in Chesterfield County. Otieno’s mother and brother were sought out as speakers and advocates at mental health events and conferences all over the U.S.
Related: A year after Irvo Otieno died, his mother says her heart still 'grieves for his loss'
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Murder reduced to manslaughter in 2023 death of mental hospital patient
