Pubdate: Sat, 07 August 1999 Source: Santa Barbara News-Press (CA) Copyright: 1999 Santa Barbara News-Press Contact: http://www.newspress.com/ Author: Chuck Schultz, News-Press Staff Writer 3 FOUND NEGLIGENT IN ADDICT'S DEATH Complicated Verdicts By Jury Were Mostly In County'S Favor, But Left Open Punitive Damages For Family Of Man Who Died In Jail The May 1995 death of heroin addict Drew Walsh in a Santa Barbara County jail cell wasn't caused by officers or nurses there, although three of them failed to properly respond to his medical needs, a federal jury in Los Angeles concluded after weeks of deliberations. Deciding a lawsuit brought by Walsh's relatives against five county employees, the jury of four men and four women returned a complicated series of unanimous verdicts Thursday that were mostly in the county's favor, but left neither side completely satisfied. Jurors have so far awarded Walsh's mother, Tommie Jean Pitts of Montecito, and his two children only $67 in damages, while leaving open the possibility of also awarding them an unknown amount of punitive damages. Lawyers will present additional evidence and arguments to the jury Tuesday on how much monetary punishment, if any, should be levied for the negligence of a jail supervisor and two nurses on duty the night Walsh died. The jury concluded that sheriff's Lt. Kathy Selander "failed to take reasonable action to summon medical care" for Walsh and that Health Care Services nurses Barbara Stockton and Barbara English were also medically negligent in their actions. None of the three could be reached for comment Friday. There is no way to fully decipher the jury's findings because jurors are forbidden to discuss the case with attorneys or anyone else until they have reached a decision on the punitive damages. The jury had deliberated for 14 days over the past month before returning its verdicts. A heroin addict for several years, Walsh, 32, had been binging on crack cocaine for about two weeks before he was arrested on a burglary warrant the afternoon of May 3, 1995, trial testimony revealed. About 12 hours after his arrest, Walsh fell six feet from a top bunk onto the concrete floor of his jail cell, lapsed into seizures and quickly died. An autopsy by a county pathologist, Dr. Elizabeth Peacock, concluded Walsh had died of "acute toxicity" from drugs in his system and heart damage caused by chronic use of cocaine and heroin. Both those drugs, as well as a potent anti-psychotic drug known as Mellarill, were found in blood samples taken from Walsh immediately after his death. Attorneys for his family, including Eric Ferrer of Los Angeles and Craig Price of Santa Barbara, had disputed the official cause of death during the 18-day trial before U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins. They tried to convince jurors that Walsh had instead died of a brain concussion caused by landing head-first on the concrete. That deadly fall, they argued, could have been prevented if Walsh had been properly treated for his obvious signs of heroin withdrawal and not placed in a cell where the only available bed was a top bunk. "We are disappointed the jury did not agree with that," Price said. Nonetheless, "I think Drew Walsh's family is gratified, after all this time, that the jury has taken a strong exception to the action of the jail nurses and jail officials by bringing in verdicts that say they not only were negligent but their actions were so outrageous as to call for punitive damages." Jake Stoddard, a deputy county counsel who handled the case, could not be reached for comment. However, the verdict was seen as a definite victory for the county by David Lawrence, a Los Angeles lawyer hired to defend the two nurses. "The cause of death was a big issue here," Lawrence said. "I think they (jurors) clearly accepted the evidence we presented that Walsh died of an a heart arrhythmia brought on by long-term drug use." The jury apparently felt Walsh's need for medicine to relieve his withdrawal symptoms "was neglected while he was alive but that did not contribute to his death," Lawrence added. "Obviously, we're not pleased with the findings of negligence and (the prospect of) punitive damages." In also finding that none of the defendants had violated Walsh's constitutional rights by being "deliberately indifferent" to his serious medical needs, jurors precluded his family from collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney and legal fees from the county, the lawyers said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D