By Tracy Harmon
The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
CANON CITY, Colo. — Several Fremont County jail employees have been removed as defendants in a lawsuit filed in connection with the April 2014 death of a 53-year-old jail inmate whom attorneys alleged died due to withdrawal from prescribed medications.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2016 in U.S. District Court in Denver on behalf of the estate of inmate John Patrick Walter. The suit is filed against the Fremont County Commission, Fremont County Sheriff Jim Beicker and members of his staff, as well as members of Correctional Healthcare Management which oversaw the care of jail inmates.
In a joint motion for dismissal approved by Judge William Martinez last Friday, attorneys for the plaintiff and defendants agreed to dismiss 13 jail employees from the lawsuit. The suit still names Beicker, Undersherff Ty Martin, Jail Cmdr. John Rankin and 15 other jail employees as defendants.
Walter was being held on first-degree assault, felony menacing and reckless endangerment charges at the Fremont County jail where he died after being found unresponsive in a single cell 17 days into his incarceration.
According to the lawsuit filed by attorneys Edwin Budge and Erik Heipt of the Budge & Heipt law firm in Seattle, Walter’s “unnecessary death” was the result of “life-threatening drug withdrawal” after jail authorities confiscated and discontinued prescription medications klonopin and methadone.
An initial autopsy conducted at the El Paso County Coroner’s Office listed the cause of death as undetermined. However, an autopsy report amended on April 12 and signed April 25 by El Paso County Coroner Dr. Robert Bux, Dr. Emily Berry and Dr. Leon Kelly indicated that “the cause of death for John Patrick Walter is acute benzodiazepine withdrawal.”
“This autopsy report was amended to reflect new information provided to me in this case to include pharmacy records, medical records and deposition transcriptions including one stating benzodiazepines were not administered despite written orders to taper the medication. The manner of death remains undermined as any intent behind not providing the medication taper is not clear,” according to the autopsy report penned by Berry.
The lawsuit seeks a trial and asks for unspecified punitive damages, attorney’s fees and prejudgement interest.
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(c)2017 The Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colo.)