By Stephen Thompson
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Three years ago, a fellow inmate at the Pinellas County Jail told authorities that David Tyler “would rather cash out than go back to prison,” according to court documents.
On Saturday, Tyler did exactly that.
A few weeks before he was to be sentenced in a solicitation-to-commit murder case, Tyler, a 56-year-old convicted child rapist, hung himself with a sheet from a sprinkler in a single jail cell, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cristen Rensel said Tuesday.
Rensel said Tyler was not under suicide watch at the jail, and he had not made any statements to the effect he wanted to kill himself. He had been put in protective custody at his own request, Rensel said.
Tyler’s death is the latest instance of someone dying while in the sheriff’s custody.
Full story: Pinellas inmate chose death over prison