Associated Press
UNIONTOWN, Pa. — A federal judge has dismissed some counts in a lawsuit over the suicide of an inmate at a southwestern county prison but said a jury should decide whether officials showed deliberate indifference to the man’s needs.
The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard reports that Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan dismissed wrongful death and survival action counts against all defendants other than the county’s medical provider.
The suit was filed after 25-year-old Cade Stevens hanged himself in his cell at Fayette County prison in September 2009 following arrest in a robbery case. The suit contends that Stevens should have been placed on suicide watch, saying he made multiple suicide attempts in his video-monitored cell before succeeding in killing himself. Stevens’ mother also contends that he was incorrectly classified upon entry.