Death Row Inmate Attempts Suicide Hours Before Execution.

[Rain Man]

I like the twist on this. In order to avoid the death penalty, he tries to kill himself. But the prison intervenes to save him, even though he's scheduled to be executed within hours, and now he's alive beyond the execution date. So by trying to kill himself hours before he was supposed to be killed, he saved his own life, which he didn't want to do, but the government wanted to do, because the government wants him dead.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

Ohio Death Row Inmate on Suicide Watch After Overdose
Tuesday, March 09, 2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Officials say an Ohio inmate who intentionally overdosed on pills hours before his scheduled execution has returned to prison and is on suicide watch.

Prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn says 43-year-old Lawrence Reynolds Jr., who admitted taking an overdose of medication prescribed to him, arrived at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown shortly after noon on Tuesday.

Walburn says Reynolds is isolated from other inmates and under constant observation.

Reynolds was treated at a Youngstown hospital after he was found unconscious in his death row cell Sunday night.

The type of drug he used and why it was prescribed aren't being disclosed. How he accumulated the pills is under investigation.

Reynolds' execution for the 1994 murder of his neighbor near Akron has been rescheduled to next week.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

Because it doesn't matter. Lower courts rule based on precedents, as do judges. If any case would come about, it would have been dismissed immediately. You base your judgement on politics that you wish exist, when they don't in court. No court or lawyer would take that case because it would lose, with cost.

It would be a civil case. You would just have to show the prison didn't take proper care. There's no precedent for level of negligence. So, you're telling me that if the prison just left a loaded gun next to the cell and he shot himself, they wouldn't be liable in any way?

[blaise]

Just google: inmate's family sues prison over suicide. There's probably a thousand links.

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by blaise

Okay, you're both wrong. This happens all the time. Families regularly sue prisons for harm done to inmates. There are lawyers who take these cases, by the way. I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Prisons are responsible for the custody of inmates. They're responsible for their safety. They don't just put inmates in isolation because they're a danger to other prisoners or c/o's. They put them there often times because they're at risk if phyisical injury. Why? Because if they suffer injury, and the prison didn't do everything to protect them, the prison is liable.
The federal government employs hundreds of attorneys to handle cases by prisoners against the prisons, correctional offiicers and wardens. You both couldn't be more wrong.

You really don't know what you are talking about. Suicide is typically charged as a criminal offense. No self respecting lawyer would take that on, because you'd have to prove that the suicide attempt was involuntary.

[Kyle DeLexus]

Obviously blaise has never seen Shawshank

[verbaljitsu]

when the inmate is scheduled for execution, it would have the effect of "executing" the damages.

No doubt prisons are responsible for prisoner safety. But that doesn't mean they are liable for every suicide. In this case it looks like the man overdosed on prescription drugs. It is unclear where they came from. So I won't speculate on liability, but it isn't as open and shut as you think.

You are right that prisoners are constantly suing prisons. It is actually kind of joke in the system. Those actions are not taken particularly seriously, and the courts have been rolling back whatever rights those prisoners have had for years. It is also irrelevant to this case.

My point is, to win the plaintiffs would have to show a duty, breach of the duty, causation, and damages. What are the damages for a death row inmate scheduled to die the next day? ZERO. There is not a judge or jury in this country that would award the family any money.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

Your really don't know what you are talking about. Suicide is typically created as a criminal offense. No self respecting lawyer would take that on, because you'd half to prove that the suicide attempt was involuntary.

Yes, I actually know exactly what I'm talking about. We were talking about families suing for damages based on a lack of supervision of the inmate. There's a history of prisoners who are held in isolation attempting suicide. The prisons know this, believe me. That's why that don't like keeping prisoners in isolation (or segregation, as some call it). The fact that the prison knows that prisoners in isolation and on death row are more prone to suicide attempts means that they need to take proper care to ensure that the inmates don't have opportunity to attempt suicide.
You're obviously the one that doesn't know what he's talking about. These cases exist, states and the federal government pay on them in and out of court. That is a fact. I really don't know how you could possibly think that saying "no lawyer would take that" means anything. I guess all the thousands of lawyers in the country are doing so well they don't need to sue the states and Fed for money. Not to mention organizations like the Lewisburg Prison Project who bring suits against the prisons all the time.

[WoodDraw]

Originally Posted by blaise

Yes, I actually know exactly what I'm talking about. We were talking about families suing for damages based on a lack of supervision of the inmate. There's a history of prisoners who are held in isolation attempting suicide. The prisons know this, believe me. That's why that don't like keeping prisoners in isolation (or segregation, as some call it). The fact that the prison knows that prisoners in isolation and on death row are more prone to suicide attempts means that they need to take proper care to ensure that the inmates don't have opportunity to attempt suicide.
You're obviously the one that doesn't know what he's talking about. These cases exist, states and the federal government pay on them in and out of court. That is a fact. I really don't know how you could possibly think that saying "no lawyer would take that" means anything. I guess all the thousands of lawyers in the country are doing so well they don't need to sue the states and Fed for money. Not to mention organizations like the Lewisburg Prison Project who bring suits against the prisons all the time.

Can you give me one case study of this?

[verbaljitsu]

No lawyer would take THIS case because there are no ****ing damages!! Would you take the case for 30% of $1?

In some wrongful death/negligence cases there are. That is obvious. Stop changing the subject. Some of those suits are meritorious.

[greg63]

The government didn't want to be denied the pleasure of killing him themselves.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by verbaljitsu

when the inmate is scheduled for execution, it would have the effect of "executing" the damages.

No doubt prisons are responsible for prisoner safety. But that doesn't mean they are liable for every suicide. In this case it looks like the man overdosed on prescription drugs. It is unclear where they came from. So I won't speculate on liability, but it isn't as open and shut as you think.

You are right that prisoners are constantly suing prisons. It is actually kind of joke in the system. Those actions are not taken particularly seriously, and the courts have been rolling back whatever rights those prisoners have had for years. It is also irrelevant to this case.

My point is, to win the plaintiffs would have to show a duty, breach of the duty, causation, and damages. What are the damages for a death row inmate scheduled to die the next day? ZERO. There is not a judge or jury in this country that would award the family any money.

Well they spend tens of millions of dollars not taking it seriously every year.
You wouldn't have much trouble showing duty or breach of duty. The prison is responsible for the inmate, they allowed him the drugs knowing he was at risk for suicide.
There are plenty of juries that would award money, Would it be tens of millions? No. But there's plenty of cases of juries awarding money for cases that don't seem to warrant it. You can't just say, "No jury would award damages." The prison would probably settle without even going to trial. You'd probably have the prison attorney having to investigate, prepare paperwork, get statements, etc. and they're probably not even the ones that would argue in court. They would probably hand the case to someone else. That's a lot of time and money. If this guy had died, and his family sued, they would get something, and it would be more than $1. The prison would most likely cut them a check. You can't just say, "He was going to die. His life wasn't worth anything" in court. It would sound too callous.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

Cane you give me one case study of this?

That an inmates family sued for damages?

[blaise]

Originally Posted by verbaljitsu

No lawyer would take THIS case because there are no ****ing damages!! Would you take the case for 30% of $1?

In some wrongful death/negligence cases there are. That is obvious. Stop changing the subject. Some of those suits are meritorious.

How am I changing the subject? I initially said the prison would be sued over suicide. They most likely would if his family cared at all. It happens all the time.

[verbaljitsu]

Originally Posted by blaise

Well they spend tens of millions of dollars not taking it seriously every year.
You wouldn't have much trouble showing duty or breach of duty. The prison is responsible for the inmate, they allowed him the drugs knowing he was at risk for suicide.
There are plenty of juries that would award money, Would it be tens of millions? No. But there's plenty of cases of juries awarding money for cases that don't seem to warrant it. You can't just say, "No jury would award damages." The prison would probably settle without even going to trial. You'd probably have the prison attorney having to investigate, prepare paperwork, get statements, etc. and they're probably not even the ones that would argue in court. They would probably hand the case to someone else. That's a lot of time and money. If this guy had died, and his family sued, they would get something, and it would be more than $1. The prison would most likely cut them a check. You can't just say, "He was going to die. His life wasn't worth anything" in court. It would sound too callous.

One of us was in courtroom 101 today. One of us is just typing some shit into google and mixing that with some seriously skewed pre-conceived notions of the justice system. You seriously don't get it.

Assuming (and this is a very large assumption), that the family could get a lawyer to take the case, and then manage to prove liability. The damages would literally be that the man died one day before he was going to die anyway. If they somehow managed to win a verdict, it would be of the symbolic variety. $1 verdicts happen all the time. And you have a much bigger problem on liability than you think. It isn't worth breaking it down.

Its the same reason that its hard to win medical malpractice cases when the patient was terminally ill. Even when you win, its pyrrhic.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by verbaljitsu

One of us was in courtroom 101 today. One of us is just typing some shit into google and mixing that with some seriously skewed pre-conceived notions of the justice system. You seriously don't get it.

Assuming (and this is a very large assumption), that the family could get a lawyer to take the case, and then manage to prove liability. The damages would literally be that the man died one day before he was going to die anyway. If they somehow managed to win a verdict, it would be of the symbolic variety. $1 verdicts happen all the time. And you have a much bigger problem on liability than you think. It isn't worth breaking it down.

Its the same reason that its hard to win medical malpractice cases when the patient was terminally ill. Even when you win, its pyrrhic.

Actually, one of us has quite a bit of knowledge about the legal system inside prisons and knows that these cases happen all the time. I didn't google anything that I wrote. Great, you were in courtroom 101. If you don't think prisons get sued for this regularly, you're wrong, and I don't see any way you can deny that. Like I said, the damages probably wouldn't be great, but it probably wouldn't go to court. I'm almost positive the state would cut his family a check.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Cool han Luke

The state just doesn't want him to get the satisfaction to kill himself. If he killed himself then justice would not have been served.

Bingo.