1South Dakota Wrongful Death Lawyer - Anthrax and unsolved suspicious deaths
5 September 2008
The FBI has given a thorough accounting of its investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001. It has not explained how it wrongfully accused one scientist and hounded him, and finally had to pay him $4 million for the damages it did to him. Once the agency thought it found the real perpetrator, Dr. Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide when the FBI was closing in on him the agency provided a comprehensive account which covered the essentials of the crime–means, motive, opportunity.
The FBI has briefed victims and family members of victims of the anthrax attack. It also released scientists from secrecy to give the press an account of the sicence created and applied to solve the case. The New York Times has the fascinating story.
Scientists involved have declined to comment or speculate on the charges the FBI was developing against Bruce Ivins, but people involved in briefings, such as Sen. Tom Daschle, have said the ece was coompelling, even though some questions remain unanswered.
The FBI’s forthrightness stands in contrast to the way such incidents and investigations are handled in South Dakota. That’s why the death of Prof. Morgan Lewis on the campus of Northern State University on Nov. 1, 2004, remaiins a puzzle.
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2Mother’s death leaves family questioning care
3 September 2008
According to Dunham’s medical records received from Pinnacle Hospital, the spinal fusion surgery went well. Her family was elated by the news and awaited her return to her room.
Dunham left surgery late that morning complaining of pain.
Prior to the surgery, the Dunham family had apprised hospital staff of their mother’s allergy to codeine and morphine.
It was entered in her medical chart. It was identified on the red tag she wore on her wrist. And in the final presurgery meeting with physicians, Dunham’s children say they reminded anesthesiologist Dr. Nageswar Yelavarthi that their mother was allergic to morphine.
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3Car accident wrongful deaths take ….
2 September 2008
Our Toledo, Ohio car accident attorneys see the devastation that wrongful deaths from car accidents can have on a family.
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report found that for every 100 million miles traveled on the roads, there were 1.37 wrongful deaths in 2007. Wrongful death caused by motorcycle accidents is also prevalent in the United States, with the number of wrongful deaths increasing to 5,154 from 4,837 in 2006.
More than 41,000 people suffered wrongful death as a result of car accidents in 2007, according to the report.
4Suit filed in death of Horicon worker dismissed
1 September 2008
A wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a 2006 incident at a Portage construction site was dismissed in Columbia County Circuit Court on Monday because of a law that prevents employees from filing lawsuits against employers in such cases.
Nickolas Schanen, 46, of Horicon, died Nov. 1, 2006, of severe head injuries after he fell through a hole on the third floor of an addition to the Appleton Papers plant under construction on West Wisconsin Street. Schanen, who was working for Gunderson Construction Co. of Portage, landed on concrete at the ground level and died at the scene.
The lawsuit for damages on behalf of his estate against Appleton Papers Inc. of Appleton was filed in November 2007 and was headed for a jury trial in early 2009 until its dismissal.
Judge James O. Miller dismissed the case “with prejudice,” which bars further claims in the matter.
Schanen’s family members received no settlement from Appleton Papers or Gunderson Construction, said Schanen’s mother, Genevieve Schanen of Beaver Dam. Workers’ compensation paid for the funeral, she said.
A spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Chris Marschman, said that state workers’ compensation law allows for payment of funeral expenses and death benefits to dependents as the exclusive remedy against an employer in such cases. Dependents can get up to four times the annual pay of the worker or $241,500, an amount set by the state.
5Sheriff’s Office sued over 2004 prisoner death
31 August 2008
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office is the target of a wrongful-death suit concerning the July 2004 death of Marvis Gail Davidson in the Buncombe County Detention Facility. Bobby Medford, since convicted on federal corruption charges, was sheriff then.
April Nicole Welch, Davidson’s daughter and the administrator of her estate, filed the lawsuit Aug. 8. It alleges that after Davidson’s arrest, she was repeatedly denied medical care for conditions related to diabetes, which jail officials knew she had because it was noted in her records during a previous incarceration.
“As her condition deteriorated and the associated pain grew to intolerable levels—particularly in the days immediately preceding her death—Ms. Davidson and fellow inmates of her cell repeatedly beseeched detention officers monitoring Ms. Davidson,” the lawsuit alleges, adding that “detention officers ignored Ms. Davidson’s continuous cries for help even as she lay writhing and screaming on the floor in pain.” The lawsuit accuses the Sheriff’s Office of manifesting “a heedless indifference to, or reckless disregard of, Ms. Davidson’s safety and well-being.”
The autopsy report revealed that Davidson died of a condition known as “dead gut,” which is sometimes related to diabetes. In 2005, a jail employee filed complaints about Davidson’s treatment.
The lawsuit seeks a trial by jury and at least $30,000 in damages, plus attorney and court costs. It names current Sheriff Van Duncan—in his official capacity only—and the Sheriff’s Office. It also targets the South Dakota-based Western Surety Co., which insures both the Sheriff’s Office and the jail.
Lt. Ross Dillingham, the sheriff’s public-affairs officer, said he had no comment on how his office would respond to the lawsuit, emphasizing that the incident took place under the previous administration. “Sheriff Duncan in no way had any affiliation with the office then, or any control over what happened in the jail in 2004,” Dillingham told Xpress.
Davidson’s death was not the only controversy related to prisoner treatment during Medford’s tenure—or the only inmate death.
Xpress has previously reported on the September 2001 arrest of Joey Max Rogers for driving his lawnmower while drunk. After being taken into custody and placed in a locked room, he was found a half-hour later with his neck broken (see “High Pressure Zone,” May 18, 2005 Xpress).
6Lyons: Murder saga needs an ending
30 August 2008
The legal saga of the 2001 shooting death of Raul Briseño gets more convoluted each day.
The case continued to astound Wednesday with news that getaway driver Jennifer McMullan would not get the deal she was promised to cut her 27-year sentence for agreeing to testify against alleged shooter Kenneth Smith.
To say this case has caused two different McHenry County state’s attorney administrations some embarrassment during the past seven years is like calling Gary Gauger’s wrongful murder conviction a clerical error.
One overturned conviction for Smith and a plea deal that a judge refused to accept are just some of the highlights.
If the prosecution of Kenny Smith, Jennifer McMullan and Justin Houghtaling were made into a movie, it would be a dark comedy, probably written and directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen.
But it’s not a movie, and there’s nothing funny about a father and a business owner getting shot to death by punks trying to rob his McHenry restaurant.
In March 2001, McHenry police had little to go on. Eventually, a little bird told them that a Lake County woman knew something about the crime.
When police spoke with Jennifer McMullan, they soon learned that she knew a lot more than they expected.
Police videotaped their interview with McMullan, who, in her naiveté, placed herself and her co-defendants near the scene on the night of the crime. She also said that Smith had a gun and mentioned a robbery when she dropped them off and waited for them to return.
Police got a warrant for Houghtaling, who had fled to Nebraska. Houghtaling told police that McMullan drove; that he and Smith tried to commit the robbery; that Smith shot Briseño.
Prosecutors gave Houghtaling a 20-year deal in exchange for his testimony, which he provided at McMullan’s trial.
Then he changed his mind at Smith’s trial after prosecutors prematurely granted him his sentence.
That moved prosecutors to pound Houghtaling’s square peg testimony into a legal round hole at Smith’s trial, which led to an appellate court reversing Smith’s conviction.
Faced with the prospect of trying Smith again and the ever reliable, proven liar Houghtaling, prosecutors cut a deal with McMullan, who had the longest prison term of the three.
What’s puzzling is why prosecutors now are alarmed enough based on recent conversations with McMullan that they wouldn’t even call presumably their star witness against Smith.
And why are her statements surprising them now?
7Oklahoma E. coli Outbreak Linked to Locust Grove Restaurant
28 August 2008
One person in Oklahoma has died from what appears to be E. coli food poisoning. At least 11 others have been hospitalized with symptoms of E. coli. At least 10 of the people ate at a restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. One commenter on Tulsa World is saying that the restaurant in question is Country Cottage, a highly-rated, quaintly-decorated restaurant in Locust Grove.
This situation is tragic for everyone. The culprit in this case may be beef. Millions of pounds of beef products have been recalled recently, most if it by one processor, Nebraska Beef, Ltd., a company with a history of sanitation violations.
Although beef is the most common source of E. coli outbreaks, other foods can be the source of E. coli infections, including but not limited to leafy greens and unpasteurized apple cider and milk.
One of our recent E. coli wrongful death cases involved spinach. Another E. coli wrongful death case our law firm is handling involves a restaurant where a goat was slaughtered in the restaurant kitchen.
8Court upholds 42-year sentence
27 August 2008
An attorney for 19-year-old Zachariah Blanton had appealed the sentence as inappropriate, arguing that the shooting “was a more or less routine act of manslaughter, if such a thing is said to exist.”
But in an eight-page ruling, the court disagreed, noting that the shooting terrorized drivers who had done nothing to make Blanton angry, and the trial court was free to consider that as an aggravating factor in his sentence.
“The harm to the motoring public is inherent to this offense — randomly and intentionally shooting at cars with a rifle from a highway overpass creates a public fear beyond that of the ‘ordinary’ manslaughter in which the victim is at least associated with creating the sudden heat that results in the death,” the court wrote in its ruling Thursday.
9Clearlake wrongful death claim tossed
26 August 2008
The Clearlake City Council has rejected a $30 million wrongful death claim filed by the family of a man who was shot and killed by a city police officer.
The council decision lifts a barrier to the filing of a civil lawsuit stemming from the death of David Vestal, 63, on Aug. 14 at a mobile home park on Old Highway 53.
Police said they went to the home in response to call about a disturbance when Vestal appeared in the doorway and leveled a shotgun at officers.
The family says Vestal was unarmed.
“It is our understanding that when David Vestal came out of the residence, he was shot without warning. He did not have a shotgun or any other firearm,” said Lakeport attorney David Anderson, who is representing the family.
Clearlake Police Lt. Mike Hermann said an investigation by the Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which is pending, should clear up the issue.
A shotgun was found at Vestal’s side, he said.
“We don’t think there’s going to be any wrongdoing on the part of the officers,” Hermann said.
His department has refused to identify the officers involved in the shooting, though they apparently have returned to duty.
The claim also alleges civil rights violations, severe emotional distress, assault and battery, false imprisonment and physical injuries.
10Settlement reached in Amherst wrongful death suit
25 August 2008
A settlement has been reached in the $15 million wrongful death lawsuit involving a man who died in the custody of the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office in 2005.
A report signed Monday morning by federal magistrate judge Michael Urbanski and filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg states the parties reached a settlement on mutually agreeable terms during a mediation session Friday.
The terms were not disclosed.
Melva Taylor Davis, the mother of the dead man, released a statement through her lawyers Monday afternoon noting that she is under a confidentiality agreement.
“My family is grateful to all who helped with the resolution,” Davis wrote. “We look forward to the power of God’s love and healing not only of our grief, but for the deputies, too. We all remain in need of prayer.”
Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers and Carlene Johnson, who represented the deputies involved in the arrest, did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
The two sides have 45 days to finalize the settlement and file required paperwork with the court asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed, according to Urbanski’s report.
Sanchez Taylor, 28, of Lynchburg died on June 16, 2005, after a run-in with Amherst County deputies.
After Taylor’s car was found abandoned and locked in a northbound lane of U.S. 29, deputies responded to a call of a break-in at nearby Bethel Welding.
Deputies Debbie Tinnell and Darren Givens found Taylor at the back of the welding shop and tried to arrest him, according to sworn statements filed with the court.
The statements claimed Taylor refused to follow orders to get on the ground and that they had to handcuff him while he was lying on a ladder behind the shop. They tried to move him, they said, but could not get him any farther than a set of ornamental welded racks a few feet away.
It was then that two more deputies, Brian Drewry and Kelly Dodson arrived and helped pick up Taylor, still fighting.
A few feet later, still unable to get him under control, the officers put him on the ground. As a fifth deputy, Betty Wise, came on the scene, deputies noticed he was having trouble breathing and that he was having a seizure.
He never recovered and died within a few hours at Lynchburg General Hospital.
Davis, Taylor’s mother, contended in her lawsuit that deputies held her son down on the ladder and racks, suffocating and killing him.