Jury finds one liable in suicide trial
LEXINGTON After roughly 9 hours of deliberation, jurors concluded only one of three defendants were negligent of the medical needs of an inmate who committed suicide at the Boyd County Jail in 2021.
The jury began deliberations Thursday afternoon to determine if negligence of jail staff, including two deputies and Sgt. Tim Rucker, contributed to the death, but ultimately found none of them wantonly disregarded the directive to place 37-year-old Derrick Bryant on suicide watch.
Bryant's estate filed suit against the three detention center employees in 2022, alleging they ignored or disobeyed a directive by medical staff to place Bryant on suicide watch on March 13, 2021 — just hours before Bryant hanged himself inside a COVID-19 isolation cell.
Attorneys for the defendants — Rucker and deputies Tracie Payne and Zachary Hunter — argued the jail's nurse, contracted through an outside health care company, made an entry into Bryant's medical chart an hour after he was pronounced deceased.
The late amendment to the chart stated Bryant was taken back to his cell after she recommended he be placed on suicide watch due to his behavior.
While testifying as a witness for the plaintiffs, Susan Scott, a licensed practical nurse for 20-plus years, said it wasn't uncommon to chart after her interactions with patients.
The defense suggested otherwise, building off the corroborating testimony of Payne, Rucker and Hunter, who all testified under oath that the directive never came from Scott, or else Bryant would have easily been placed under suicide watch — requiring closer observation and confinement to a cell bare of any items that could be used for harming oneself.
The consensus from the defense argued that placing inmates on the special watch was a routine occurrence at the jail, and that Bryant had shown no indications of harming himself and was only displaying agitated behaviors after nine days of confinement before his transfer to general population, as required by COVID protocols at the time.
During closing arguments, Sebastian Joy, the attorney for Bryant's daughter, said the preponderance of the evidence proved the defendants were deliberately indifferent to Bryant's serious medical needs, violating jail policy and Bryant's constitutional rights as an inmate by not ensuring his safety, if even from himself.
After two-and-a-half days of testimony from multiple witnesses, although conflicting at times, Joy said the facts of the case and earlier testimony suggested the defendants couldn't be bothered to deal with Bryant, an unruly inmate, who was allegedly recommended to be put on watch three separate times in the presence of the defendants.
Relying on earlier testimony from Jailer Bill Hensley, Joy told jurors any deputy in the facility could physically place an inmate in the specialized cell, but the official directive was made by medical staff and could not be trumped by deputies.
The defense worked at poking holes in Scott's testimony during closing arguments, stating she made the late addition to the medical notes to ensure she wasn't sued for her inaction.
Bryant's daughter, Jazmyne, also took the stand Thursday morning, testifying her father was in and out of jail for the majority of her life before his suicide when she was just 18 years old.
On behalf of Bryant's estate, the plaintiffs sought monetary compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering and punitive damages, all totaling nearly $7 million, if the jurors unanimously found the jail employees showed deliberate indifference or negligence to Bryant's psychological needs.
After reviewing the evidence for the majority of the day on Friday, jurors returned their verdict just after 5 p.m., announcing deputies Payne and Hunter were not liable for Bryant's death.
Although jurors determined Sgt. Rucker was not directly liable for the suicide, he was negligent for not placing Bryant on suicide watch as the sole officer in charge on that shift.
As far as monetary reward, jurors decided to award Bryant's estate $65,000 for pain and suffering, but awarded $0 for lost wages and punitive damages against Rucker.
Following the verdict, Joy said the case had only ever been about justice for Bryant's arguably preventable death.
"This case is not about money, it is about justice for Derrick Bryant," Joy said, adding the jury agreed that Rucker's negligent action of not placing Bryant on watch after the directive of medical staff "is the reason that he died."
"We thank the eight jurors who finally gave justice to the Bryant family," he continued, "I sincerely hope that all the defendants and the jailer at the Boyd County Detention Center have learned something from this tragedy and have made the necessary changes."
