Inmate death raises jurisdictional concerns

12-30-2011 Virginia:

Severely beaten Red Onion State Prison inmate Kawaski Bass could have arrived in an emergency room just beyond Virginia’s state line in less than two hours.

Instead, the state’s jurisdiction-based policy on hospital care made sure his battered and bruised body lay in the back of an ambulance for a nearly four-hour ride on Sept. 6.

“It amazed me to know they took him so far … despite other hospitals being in the area,” said Bass’ sister, Tarsha Bass.

Guards at the Pound-based prison found the inmate unconscious in his cell and initially had an ambulance rush him to the nearby Dickenson Community Hospital. But the devastating head injuries and internal bleeding were too much for the local medical center to handle.

So, doctors wheeled Kawaski Bass back into the ambulance and sent him to what is known as a Level I trauma care center - a hospital staffed night and day to tackle the most debilitating injuries.

A map shows the nearest such hospital to be Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., roughly 75 miles away.

Yet the ambulance was sent to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke, Va., roughly 197 miles away. That way, guards could maintain their custody over the inmate.

“The Virginia prison system stipulates that we cannot transport their prisoners across state lines,” said Mountain States Hospital spokeswoman Teresa Hicks, whose company runs both the Dickenson and Kingsport hospitals.

Kawaski Bass died hours after arriving at the Roanoke hospital in the early morning of Sept. 7.

Hospitals

Bass would have had a handful of treatment options if the state line was not an issue.
Paramedics could have rushed him the 86 miles to Johnson City Medical Center in Johnson City, Tenn. It’s also a Level I trauma center and requires half the travel time as the trek to Roanoke.

Even closer, at 78 miles, is Bristol Regional Medical Center, considered a Level II trauma center because it lacks some round-the-clock surgical specialists, according to the American College of Surgeons, which ranks trauma centers. Still, the Bristol hospital is staffed with trauma surgeons to handle the worst injuries day and night.

“It sort of makes sense that you would want to be treated as soon as possible,” said Dr. Renan Castillo, of the John Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Bass’ situation seems to have revolved around what the medical community calls the Golden Hour of trauma care – the theory that a patient’s greatest chance of survival is based on receiving the right surgical treatment within the first hour.

But it’s an unproven theory.

“There are a lot of surgeons that definitely believe in the Golden Hour,” Castillo said. “It’s definitely true that you’re racing against the clock on some level.”

Prison guards found Bass on the floor of his cell around 1 p.m. and prison medical staff performed CPR on him for nearly 60 minutes before finding a pulse, sister Tarsha Bass said.

The medical staff hooked Kawaski Bass to a respirator to help him breathe, the sister said, and shipped him by ambulance to the community hospital across the county line in the town of Clintwood. The American College of Surgeons does not rate the hospital as a trauma-care center.

Bass could have been transported to Roanoke by helicopter, which the Virginia State Police said is usually an hour-long flight. An ongoing rain storm made helicopter transport too dangerous, the Virginia Department of Corrections confirmed, and so the trip was done by ambulance.

The Virginia State Police covers parts of Southwest Virginia with an Abingdon-based Med Flight helicopter and confirmed that it has ferried state prison inmates to Roanoke.

On a clear night, the helicopter could have departed the community hospital in Clintwood and reached the Roanoke hospital within the Golden Hour.

It could also reach the Johnson City Hospital in 15 minutes.

“I think the policy needs to be changed,” Tarsha Bass said of the state-line rule.

“When it’s a matter of life and death … they should be able to bend it a little.”

Injuries

Though parts of the medical community consider the clock to be a dangerous foe, Virginia law does not.

“There’s nothing that says that people need to be sent to the closest hospital,” said Michael D. Berg, regulation and compliance manager with the Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services.

In fact, Berg noted that the decision on where to send patients is usually left to the attending physician.

Hospital location becomes a legal factor only when it comes to Virginia’s prison inmates.

“It is a jurisdictional issue,” DOC spokesman Larry Traylor said in an email. “Our authority does not extend beyond the border of Virginia unless there is a specific prior agreement or extradition order of some type.”

Simply put, the DOC would lose custody of an inmate as soon as the ambulance or helicopter crossed beyond Virginia’s state line. An out-of-state judge would have to sign an extradition order just so Virginia prisons could retain custody all throughout the hospital stay and even past the eventual discharge.

Tarsha Bass, a licensed practical nurse from Hampton, arrived at the Roanoke hospital with her mother late at night.

A doctor told them that brain swelling and massive abdominal bleeding were the leading causes of her brother’s trauma.

At one point, hospital staff suggested that Kawaski Bass might undergo surgery to relieve the pressure on his swelling brain, the sister said.

He died soon after mother and sister arrived at the hospital. He was never wheeled into an operating room.

Kawaski Bass is the second of two inmates killed over the past 19 months inside Red Onion, a maximum security prison located near the Kentucky border.

The first happened July 28, 2010, when Robert C. Gleason followed through on a threat to kill again unless sentenced to death for slaying an inmate more than a year earlier. Gleason is now on Death Row awaiting a Virginia Supreme Court review of two death sentences.

With Bass, corrections officials and investigators refuse to confirm the cause of injuries or even a suspect because the investigation is ongoing.

The Bristol Herald Courier has learned that John Keyvann Watson, 31, is suspected of the altercation that left Bass, 31, unconscious in his prison cell.

Watson is serving 103 years for two counts of second-degree murder that stem from a 2002 attack in Richmond, court records show. The Virginia Department of Corrections has tentatively set his good-time release date for Sept. 7, 2100.

Kawaski Bass was serving a 65-year sentence for 1998 and 1999 convictions of robbery, use of a firearm, carjacking, assault and battery, and conspiracy in several Virginia counties and had a good-time release date of Jan. 21, 2061. ..Source.. by Michael Owens | Bristol Herald Courier

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Mom sues state over son’s death at Virginia prison

7-17-2012

BRISTOL, Va. (AP) — Officers ignored an inmate’s concerns that a prison gang was out to kill him and then let his cries for help go unanswered as he was beaten to death in his cell, the inmate’s mother claims in a lawsuit against the state and prison officials.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Hampton, claims officers at Red Onion State Prison didn’t respond to Kawaski Bass’ pleas for help. It also says the state failed to adequately train or supervise employees responsible for maintaining safety within the housing unit where Bass was attacked.

Bass, 32, was severely beaten in his cell on Sept. 6, 2011. He was pronounced dead hours later after a 200-mile ride from the prison in Pound to a Roanoke hospital.

He was “heard by other inmates within the housing unit screaming for assistance for several minutes and none of the corrections officers . responded to his pleas for help,” reads the lawsuit, filed by Richmond attorney Horace F. Hunter.

Virginia State Police have not charged Bass’ cellmate, John Keyvann Watson, 32. Bass has claimed he beat Bass because he was defending against a sexual assault.

Virginia Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor; that it is department policy not to comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit claims Bass told officers that members of the Bloods prison gang had indicated they planned to kill him. It says Bass was placed in a cell with Watson, who was a known associate of the Bloods.

Watson is serving 103 years for two counts of second-degree murder. Bass was serving a 65-year sentence for robbery, carjacking, assault and other charges.

The mother of another inmate, Aaron Cooper, also has given notice that she plans to sue the state and Red Onion officials over the death of her son at the prison in 2010.

Cooper was strangled to death by inmate Robert Gleason through a separate cage on the outdoor recreation yard. Gleason already had killed another inmate and vowed to continue killing unless he was given the death penalty.

Cooper’s mother gave notice that she may file a civil lawsuit because the prison “failed to properly segregate and monitor violent and dangerous criminals.”

Gleason was sentenced to death in September. ..Source..

Daughter fears sex offender's killing was a case of vigilante justice

6-10-2012 Virginia:

DINWIDDIE - When Donald Olynn Cook, a repeat sex offender who twice pleaded guilty to assaulting teenaged boys, asked his daughter for another chance this year, she said yes.

Weeks later, the 23-year-old finds herself mourning the loss of a father shot dead before she could re-learn how to love him.

"I was trying to get back to that faith I had in him when I was growing up, but here we are," said Anna Cook, sitting beside a wilting white rose bush that he gave her for her birthday last month.

The gift would become Cook's last grand gesture, given in a fleeting moment of calm between two tragedies that befell the 53-year-old McKenney man this spring. The first destroyed his home. The second ended his life.

It was a life that his daughter says he had been working to reclaim after spending decades in the shadow of actions that she fears may have emboldened a vigilante.

"He made his mistakes, yes, but he paid for it," Cook said. "He was a human, he didn't deserve to be gunned down like a dog."

Donald Cook was found shot to death beside his vehicle on a remote stretch of Cherry Hill Road near the Brunswick County line on May 22. He was pronounced dead at the scene when Dinwiddie County deputies arrived just after 4 a.m. He had just moved to a home in Dewitt after lightening struck his longtime residence on Cutbank Road in McKenney, minutes from where he was killed.

The Richmond native had lived in Dinwiddie for 25 years, but electrical contract work took him out of state on a regular basis. The last time he came home from a job, he called his daughter and offered to help her out around the house. Cook uses a wheelchair and said that she was grateful for his assistance.

They spoke several times in the weeks leading up to his death. The last time she saw him, he appeared to be troubled, which was not uncommon.

"He was in an unsettled mood like he gets sometimes and I told him that if he needed anything to just give me a call," she said. "He never did."

Cook was waiting on a return call from him when her grandmother told her that he was dead. She dropped the phone.

"My first thought was that he must have had a heart attack," she said. "He weighed 260 pounds and didn't take good care of himself."

As more details emerged, Cook vowed not to cry until he has been laid to rest and his killer has been apprehended. She said that she wants to be strong for him and plans to keep fighting until his murder has solved.

"It wasn't right for someone to try and take justice into their own hands," she said.

Cook's penance for past crimes ended in April 2009 in the eyes of the law, when he was released from probation after completing court-ordered sex offender treatment with Scott Huisman at the Center for Psychological Assessment and Therapeutics. Cook was ordered to check in for roughly three years following the completion of a two-year active prison term at the Lawrenceville Correctional Center, according to court records.

He was sentenced in 2005 to serve 15 years with 13 suspended after pleading guilty to the aggravated sexual battery of a boy between the ages of 13 and 15. Court records show that Cook admitted himself to the psychiatric wing of CJW Medical Center in Richmond less than 48 hours after the assault.

He was sentenced to five years in prison with four years, four months suspended in 1998 after pleading guilty to taking indecent liberties with a 15-year-old boy. Case records from the assault cite a previous conviction for sexual battery.

Cook's daughter says that she does not want her father's past crimes to undermine the investigation into his slaying.

"I don't want him to become just another statistic, because he's not a name on the list. He was someone's father. He was my father," she said.

Dinwiddie Sheriff's spokesman Maj. William Knott declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation. ..Source.. by K. BURNELL EVANS (STAFF WRITER)

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Investigators search for clues in Dinwiddie’s first homicide of 2012

5-23-2012:

DINWIDDIE, Va. (WTVR) – Officials have released the name of a man found dead in the road near the Nottoway River in Dinwiddie County.

According to the Dinwiddie County Sheriff’s Office, 53-year-old Donald Olynn Cook, of the 15000 Block of First Street in Dewitt, was found Tuesday around 4:15 a.m. on Cherry Hill Road and the Brunswick County line.

Investigators said gunshot wounds were found on Cook’s body and that his death is being investigated as a homicide.

Cook’s death marks the county’s first homicide of 2012.

The man’s daughter, Anna Cook, talked with CBS 6 News senior reporter Wayne Covil Wednesday.

Cook said that her father lived within a few miles of where he was found dead until a few months ago. That was when he was forced to move after a lightning strike destroyed his home.

“Despite the fact he had his own problems… he was a human and he was a good man,” said Cook. ..Source.. by Wayne Covil and Nick Dutton

Virginia Police Shoot, Kill Child Porn Suspect

5-20-2012 Virginia:

Man refused to surrender, threatened police with a sword

Fairfax County Police are investigating an incident that ended in officers shooting and killing a man wanted on child porn charges Saturday night.

Investigators say the shooting occurred inside an apartment on Backlick Road in Springfield. Police were informed that the suspect, who has not been identified, was hiding in a bedroom.

Police say the man was wanted on three felony counts of producing child pornography, three felony counts of possessing or reproducing child pornography with intent to distribute, and one misdemeanor count of consensual sexual intercourse with a minor. Police had encountered the suspect the previous night, but he allegedly escaped on foot after giving the officers false identification.

With felony counts of resisting arrest and identity theft added to his rap sheet, the suspect refused to surrender when encountered by police Saturday night. Instead, officers say he threatened them with a sword.

After making repeated demands for the man to surrender, officers fired both live ammunition and bean-bag rounds, fatally wounding the suspect, who was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The investigation into the case is ongoing. ..Source.. by 4NBC.com

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Child porn suspect killed by police in Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - A child pornography suspect was shot and killed by police Saturday night after evading officers and then threatening them with a sword.

Fairfax County police say the man had eluded them Friday night by using false identification, and then escaped after a brief foot chase.

Officers re-encountered the suspect Saturday night while searching an apartment in the 5700 block of Backlick Road because of a report of a wanted person in a bedroom.

Police say the suspect refused to comply and threatened officers with a sword. Police fired both less-lethal bean bag rounds and real bullets at the suspect. He was transported to a hospital where he died a short time later.

Police say the man, whose name is not being released, had seven outstanding warrants for child pornography, and sex with a minor as well as resisting arrest and identity theft.

The officer involved is on routine administrative leave while the case is investigated. ..Source.. by Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

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FXCO police shoot child porn suspect

5-20-2012:

A Fairfax County police officer shot and killed a suspect involved in child pornography May 19 at the Chelsea Square apartment complex on Backlick Road in North Springfield.

The following information is from the Fairfax County Police Department: The suspect had seven outstanding warrants: Three felony counts of producing child pornography, three felony counts of possessing or reproducing child pornography with the intent to distribute, and a misdemeanor warrant for consensual sexual intercourse with a minor.

Police officers from the Franconia police station encountered the suspect Friday night, but he ran away after giving false identification. As a result, two additional warrants were issued for resisting arrest and identity theft.

Patrol officers and a K9 team were called to the apartment at around 11:08 p.m. Saturday night after receiving a report that a wanted person was hiding in a bedroom. When the suspect failed to comply with their commands and threatened them with a sword, the officers fired at him using both bean bag rounds and lethal rounds. The suspect fell to the ground, and officers provided medical aid and performed CPR. The suspect was transported to the hospital and died a short time later.

One officer has been placed on administrative leave while the case is being investigated.

Update: The police identified the deceased man May 21 as Gray Alan Combs Jr., age 22, of no fixed address. ..Source.. by Annandaleva VA

Sexual assault suspect killed by police

11-6-2011 Virginia:

Suspect accused of sexual assault, abduction

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Two investigations are underway following a pursuit and standoff that ended with police killing an armed suspect.

The man was wanted for an abduction in York County, where police say he took a woman hostage at gunpoint at the Belmont At York Apartments on Saint Clair Circle. Police were first alerted to the situation at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

About 20 minutes later, a deputy spotted the suspect's car at a church in Newport News. "When he saw the vehicle, the windows were fogged, he shined a light on the vehicle, gave explicit orders to shut the vehicle down," said Lt. Dennis Ivey, Jr. with the York-Poquoson Sheriff's Office.

The suspect refused to stop.

Newport News police officers and York-Poquoson Sheriff deputies chased the suspect into a cul-de-sac at the end of Spring Trace Lane off Saunders Road.

When the Newport News tactical team arrived, neighbors who had gathered outside quickly took cover. "We were down there and one of the neighbors said we should probably get behind this wall and not even a minute after we got behind the wall we heard the gunshots," Caitlin Roberts told WAVY.com

During the standoff, one member of the Tactical Team opened fire and shot the suspect, who died at the scene. Police have identified the suspect as 40-year-old Robert Burchfield of Hampton. The female passenger was wounded and taken to the hospital, where she was treated and released. She was alert and talking to officers as she went into the ambulance. Police determined she was hit by flying debris and not gunfire.

The female victim is a 34-year-old York County woman. She told investigators that she was sexually assaulted by Burchfield in the 1000 block of Harpersville Road in Newport News, moments before deputies spotted their vehicle.

Investigators say the victim was Burchfield's ex-girlfriend.

A criminal investigation is being conducted by the Newport News Police Department's Homicide Unit. The Commonwealth's Attorney's Office will determine whether or not the shooting was justified. Meanwhile, an administrative internal investigation is underway. The officer who fired his weapon and a second officer have been placed on administrative leave with pay. ..Source.. by Jane AlvarezWertz

Inmate death at Augusta Correctional Center under investigation

8-11-2010 Virginia:

CRAIGSVILLE — The Virginia Department of Corrections is investigating the death of a 57-year-old inmate at Augusta Correctional Center.

Donald L. Mawyer of Arrington died in late July, according to the VDOC.

Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the VDOC, wrote in an e-mail Monday, "We had an inmate death at Augusta Correctional Center on July 24th. The incident is under investigation and I cannot comment further."

In 1999, Mawyer was released from prison after spending five years behind bars for a rape in Nelson County. In 2003 on Valentine's Day, Mawyer received a 30-year prison sentence in Albemarle County Circuit Court after being convicted of abduction, according to the VDOC. He also had a parole violation in 2000, along with a conviction in 2002 for failing to register as a sex offender. Mawyer was scheduled for release in August 2028 at the age of 75.

Daniel A. Braxton, warden at Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, referred all media inquiries to the Department of Corrections. The Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke said Monday that a cause of death has not been determined.

A phone call placed Monday afternoon to a Mawyer family member was not returned. ..Source.. by Brad Zinn/staff

Sex Offender Dies After Arlington Police Use Taser

1-18-2010 Virginia:

ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA) -- Right on the Metro platform at the Pentagon City metro station, a struggle took place just after 8 p.m. Sunday.

"The suspect was aggressive with the officer," said Detective Crystal Nosal with Arlington Police.

An Arlington police officer spotted 36-year-old William Randolph Bumbrey of D.C., who was wanted for larceny in connection with a local pharmacy.

"When the officer spotted him, he asked him to stop; the suspect became combative," said Nosal.

That's when the officer called for help.

"While the officer and suspect were alone, the suspect was still fighting. The officer deployed his taser, and the suspect continued to fight with the officer," said Nosal.

A second officer arrived and handcuffed the suspect. As standard procedure for taser deployment, the officers called for medics. Nosal says the suspect than began to have labored breathing. When medics transported him to the hospital, Bumbrey was pronounced dead.

Bumbrey was released from prison two years ago after being convicted of a sex offense and other crimes. Police say they recovered items on Bumbrey believed to have been stolen from the pharmacy.

One Metro passenger, Shawn Butler, believes police officers should not carry tasers: "I know he has a checkered pass, but to be tasered because of shoplifting and then die? That's crazy."

The medical examiner will determine if the taser had any affect on Bumbrey's death.

The Arlington Police Department is investigating the death of William Bumbrey.

The officer who used the taser is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. ..Source.. by Peggy Fox

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Man Dies After Being Tasered by Police

2-7-2010 Virginia:

ARLINGTON, Va. - There are new questions after a man died during a struggle with police at a busy Metro stop.

Officers used a Taser on the man after he wouldn't cooperate at Pentagon City.

Arlington police are investigating their first-ever police-involved death involving a Taser.

The man, identified as 36-year-old William Bumbrey, a District resident, was struck with a Taser during a struggle with police.

Sources say Bumbrey, who appears on South Carolina's sex offender registry, had stolen several items from the Rite Aid pharmacy on South Hayes Street as it closed Sunday night.

A spokeswoman says an Arlington police officer saw a man matching the suspect's description, complete with pharmacy items in hand, and ordered him to stop. Police say Bumbrey ignored the officer's orders to stop.

"The suspect became combative and fought with the officer," said Det. Crystal Nosal, an Arlington County police spokesperson.

Sources say the scuffle between the officer and Bumbrey carried over into an elevator. A second officer came in. Bumbrey was handcuffed and he then starting having breathing problems.

Bumbrey was pronounced dead at the hospital. Arlington police use the Taser-brand X-26.

We tried to contact Bumbrey's father, but we're told he was dealing with the medical examiner and other such matters. We're still awaiting word from the ME on the exact cause of death.

Both officers remain on routine paid administrative leave. ..Source.. Markham Evans

VA- UPDATED: Inmate killed in Pittsylvania County identified

12-18-2008 Virginia:

Virginia State Police are investigating a shooting in Chatham Tuesday night involving a sheriff's deputy and inmate.

The inmate, Cody Nifong, was killed. The officer was shot at least once in the wrist. Authorities say the Pittsylvania County deputy had taken the 24-year-old inmate to Richmond earlier in the day for a medical appointment.

They were driving back to Chatham when the shooting happened, less than a mile from the jail on Main Street. Authorities won't go into specifics but say there was a struggle involved.

The deputy has been with the department for more than 20 years, and is currently on medical leave. The sheriff says he has not been involved in a shooting before.

We're told the inmate had been staying in the Pittsylvania County jail since July for violating probation. According to court records, he was supposed to be sentenced in January for taking indecent liberties with a child.

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UPDATED: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 @ 11:47 a.m.


Virginia State Police are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Tuesday night in the community of Chatham.

According to a news release, a deputy with the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's office was transporting an inmate back to the county jail after a medical appointment. We're told a struggle then ensued.

The inmate has been identified as Cody Christopher Nifong. He was shot and killed. Virginia State Police are still investigating this incident.

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One person is dead and a Pittsylvania County Sheriff's deputy is in the hospital following a shooting in Chatham.

It happened around 7:15 Tuesday night in the 100 block of Main street.

Investigators believe a fight took place between a deputy and an inmate he was transporting. During the fight, the deputy's gun went off, injuring him in the wrist.

The inmate was then shot and killed. No one else was involved in the shooting.

The injured deputy is being treated for minor injuries at Danville Regional Medical Center.

State Police and the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office are investigating the incident. ..News Source.. by WDBJ TV

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Deputy Who Shot And Killed Inmate Cleared

3-3-2009 Virginia:

Salem, VA-- Tuesday, Neil Vener, the Commonwealth Attorney for Virginia send a letter to the Pittsylvania County sheriff's office clearing a deputy who shot and killed an inmate in December 2008.

Deputy Roger Walden was transporting Cody Christopher Nifong from a psychological evaluation visit back to the county jail when the incident happened.

In the newly released details, investigators say Nifong who was sitting in the back of Walden's patrol tried to strangle the deputy while the car was still in motion. They say he did it by freeing one of his hands from handcuffs.

Deputy Walden who was using one hand to stop the cord, was able to use the other hand to get his gun and fire a shot to stop Nifong from strangling him. Walden shot himself in the wrist during the struggle.

Vener ruled that Walden's actions were justified.

Nifong was in jail awaiting sentencing for sexual assault on a 13 year old girl. ..Source.. by Devetta Blount

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VA- Deputy Who Shot And Killed Inmate Cleared

3-2-2009 Virginia:

Salem, VA-- Tuesday, Neil Vener, the Commonwealth Attorney for Virginia send a letter to the Pittsylvania County sheriff's office clearing a deputy who shot and killed an inmate in December 2008.

Deputy Roger Walden was transporting Cody Christopher Nifong from a psychological evaluation visit back to the county jail when the incident happened.

In the newly released details, investigators say Nifong who was sitting in the back of Walden's patrol tried to strangle the deputy while the car was still in motion. They say he did it by freeing one of his hands from handcuffs.

Deputy Walden who was using one hand to stop the cord, was able to use the other hand to get his gun and fire a shot to stop Nifong from strangling him. Walden shot himself in the wrist during the struggle.

Vener ruled that Walden's actions were justified.

Nifong was in jail awaiting sentencing for sexual assault on a 13 year old girl. ..News Source.. by Devetta Blount

Death of Greensville prison inmate under investigation, authorities say

2-8-2006 Virginia:

The department's Inspector General's Office is looking into the death of Roosevelt McArthur Lawson, 61, who was found slumped over in a chair in a day room about 7:25 p.m. on Feb. 3, Larry Traylor said. One of Lawson's fellow inmates complained about indifferent treatment toward Lawson by prison medical staff, according to a family member of the inmate. Traylor declined to provide additional details.

After Lawson was discovered, medical staff were called to the scene, Traylor said. Lawson was taken by ambulance to Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia where he was pronounced dead shortly before 8:40 p.m., Traylor said.

Lawson's body has been sent to the Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond for an autopsy. Lawson was serving a seven-year sentence for a sexual assault in Charlottesville. ..more.. : by Richmond Times-Dispatch

Child molester was strangled

1-16-2004 Virginia:
Blunt-force trauma to the torso contributed to Ausley's death in a state prison cell

Child molester Richard Alvin Ausley was killed by strangulation and blunt-force trauma to the torso, the state medical examiner's office said yesterday in classifying his death in prison as a homicide.

Ausley, 64, was found dead on the floor of his cell at the high-security Sussex I State Prison near Wakefield on Tuesday night. Prison officials said Ausley was locked in the cell with another inmate, whom they would not identify, when his body was discovered between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Prison officials are investigating the circumstances of the killing but said they would release no further details until at least Tuesday, when state employees return from a long holiday weekend.

Kara Gotsch of the Washington-based American Civil Liberties Union's national prison project, a prisoner advocacy organization, said she could draw no conclusions about the slaying from the meager facts at hand so far. She said details such as the background of Ausley's cellmate and the time when the guards last checked the cell would show whether prison officials had taken reasonable steps to protect Ausley's life.


It's no secret that imprisoned child molesters are frequent targets of other inmates and need special vigilance, Gotsch said.

Evelyn Henson, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office, said an autopsy determined Ausley was strangled with some type of ligature - a cordlike object probably narrower than a twisted-up shirt or bed sheet - and that a heavy blow or blows to his torso contributed to his death.

Ausley in the 1970s had violently sexually assaulted young boys, imprisoning one in a box in the woods of what was then Nansemond County.

The victim of that crime, Paul Martin Andrews of Miami, said Wednesday that he had never wanted to see Ausley dead or injured, merely to keep him off the streets forever, and that he felt some responsibility for Ausley's death.

Two years ago, Andrews, determined to prevent Ausley from being freed as his prison sentence neared its end, led a campaign to provide funding for a state program to keep certain violent sexual offenders confined after their prison terms ended. Andrews also persuaded another of Ausley's victims, Gary E. Founds, to come forward after three decades of silence and report that Ausley had sexually assaulted him.

Founds' statements prompted prosecutors in Portsmouth to file new charges against Ausley in 2002, securing a conviction that added five years to Ausley's time in prison. The new conviction also changed Ausley's status in the prison system and caused him to be transferred from Brunswick Correctional Center to the tougher Sussex I prison.

Had he survived his prison term, the state attorney general's office planned to file a petition seeking his continued confinement under the law his case inspired.

Ausley had told the Richmond Times-Dispatch he regretted his crimes, would pose no danger anymore, and had found a family in Southwest Virginia willing to take him in if he was released.

But less than two months after arriving inside the walls of Sussex I, Ausley was dead.

Founds told WVEC-TV in Norfolk he felt no sympathy for Ausley. "If there was an award, I'd give it to the guy that got him," Founds said. "That sounds cold, but he didn't care about how we felt when he was raping us and attacking us the way he did." ..more.. by

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Inmate Says He Warned Corrections Officials Not To Put Him With Child Molester From Hampton Roads

7-14-2004:

The inmate accused of killing one of Virginia's most notorious child molesters when they were forced to share a cell said he warned a corrections official not to put them together, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday.

Dewey Keith Venable, 24, told the newspaper in a letter this week that the officer he warned responded by telling him he would be put into isolation unless he agreed to share a cell with Richard Alvin Ausley at Sussex I State Prison in Waverly.

Venable, indicted in May for capital murder in the Jan. 13 strangulation and beating of the 64-year-old Ausley, was the victim of a molester when he was a child.

The slaying came before Ausley was about to make parole, a development that prompted state legislators to pass a law allowing dangerous sexual predators to be locked up indefinitely in treatment centers once they complete their prison sentence.

Venable also claimed in the letter that he has attempted to take his own life and has been on suicide watch several times since the slaying.

Prison officials declined to comment on why the men were put together in a two-man cell, what they knew about Venable's history or other details of their investigation.

Venable is serving an 18-year, nine-month sentence for felony convictions that include carjacking, abduction, robbery and illegal use of a firearm in Virginia Beach.

Norfolk Circuit Court records list Venable among the victims of Dennis L. Sewell, who pleaded guilty on May 31, 1988, to two counts of aggravated sexual battery.

Ausley abducted a 13-year-old Portsmouth boy, buried him in a box in Suffolk and sexually assaulted him repeatedly in 1973. The case received national news coverage and the victim, Paul Martin Andrews, led the fight for the state's new Sexually Violent Predators Act.

Venable is to be arraigned on the murder charge Aug. 18 in Sussex Circuit Court. ..Source..