Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 22, 2006 CORONER'S JURY RULES SUICIDE

From the Southeast Missourian...

Jury - Cairo jail death was suicide

RUDI KELLER ~ Southeast Missourian

A grainy security camera videotape was played for the jury, with a crime scene investigator commenting on what was shown.

CAIRO, Ill. -- A coroner's jury needed little more than 30 minutes Friday to decide Demetrius Flowers committed suicide in a city holding cell Dec. 14, a verdict that family members of the dead man immediately challenged.

A grainy security camera videotape showed that Flowers, 38, stopped moving in his cell less than 15 minutes after being locked up, Illinois State Police crime scene investigator Pete Sopczak told the six-person jury. And he remained motionless for more than four hours, Sopczak said, his death unnoticed until a police clerk entered the holding area to deliver his breakfast.

Sopczak played the video for the jury, commenting throughout. The video, played on a 19-inch television, showed the bars to the cell but only glimpses of the feet and lower legs during the time Flowers was alone.

When Flowers was placed in the cell, the time stamp on the video read 4:09 a.m. Two minutes later, police officer Terry Crowe returned to the cell to collect Flowers' personal belongings, but took only his wallet.

Flowers was allowed to keep his shoes, in violation of written police policy. Laces from the shoes were found around Flowers' neck, with one end tied to the framing on an electric light above the cell's bunk.

After Crowe left him, Flowers' feet disappeared from view on the tape. A few minutes later, his socked feet reappeared. One foot then jerked spasmodically. By the time the tape read 4:23 a.m., his feet had become motionless.

When Flowers was found, his body was already stiffening from rigor mortis.

Police employees responsible for periodically checking on Flowers made entries into the jail log that they had done so, but only looked at the video screen showing the cell. They did not physically check his well-being.

"The important thing to note is that the cell was empty" except for Flowers, Sopczak told the jury. "He doesn't have to be suspended. He just has to have enough pressure to cut off that blood flow."

A toxicology report from the autopsy of Flowers showed he had been drinking and using marijuana before his death. His blood alcohol content was 0.078 percent, just under the legal limit for driving.

Jury members refused to discuss their verdict. The four men and two women, equally split between blacks and whites, heard testimony for nearly 6 1/2 hours before retiring to consider the verdict. A total of 16 witnesses testified.

Three people subpoenaed by Alexander County Coroner David Barkett did not testify, including Flowers' girlfriend Barbara Harris, who claims she heard a commotion inside the Cairo Police Department building while Flowers was being held.

Harris was at the courthouse Friday, as was her cousin, Gerald Harris, whose dispute with Flowers led to his arrest early in the morning of Dec. 14. Gerald Harris was also subpoenaed but didn't testify.

The only witness called to testify who did not appear was former Cairo police Lt. Tim Brown, who was in charge at the department at the time of Flowers' death.

Brown and Lt. Gary Hankins were fired as a result of Flowers' death, along with dispatcher Don Beggs, who made the log entries that he had checked on Flowers. Crowe and dispatcher Regina Meyers were given one-month suspensions.

Neither Barbara Harris nor Gerald Harris were called because their testimony didn't fit the other evidence, Barkett said. Harris' claim that she was at the police station soon after Flowers was arrested isn't supported by the videotape evidence, he said.

'All refuted'

Everything Harris has said about what she heard "was all refuted in sworn testimony," Barkett said.

Harris, however, stood by her story. "When I got down to the police station, I heard him hollering. It sounded like there was a real tussle going on down there." She said she was ordered to leave.

In addition to testimony about Flowers' time in custody and the death investigation, jurors heard testimony that for the first time details why Flowers was arrested.

At 2:56 a.m. Dec. 14, Crowe and Lt. Gary Hankins responded to a disturbance call at Barbara Harris' home, Crowe said. Gerald Harris said he had been assaulted by Flowers.

Flowers, however, told officers he found Gerald Harris at the home with Flowers' six children by Barbara Harris, Crowe testified. The children were awake at the early morning hour, and Flowers said Gerald Harris was urinating on the floor and masturbating, Crowe said.

Barbara Harris, who was not home when police arrived, soon appeared and told officers she did not want Flowers there. Crowe and Hankins handcuffed Flowers and took him to the police station, where he was released after promising not to return to the Harris home.

About 3:40 a.m., police received another call and found Flowers had returned to the residence. He was then arrested and placed in the cell.

Brown arrived at the police station about 4 a.m., two hours early for his shift, approximately the same time Crowe and Hankins arrived with Flowers in handcuffs for the second time.

Every law enforcement officer who examined Flowers' body after he was found testified that they saw no evidence he was abused or beaten. The only marks on his body, said Dr. Mark LeVaughn, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy, were from the shoelaces that killed him.

Family members disputed the suicide verdict. They said suicide didn't fit Flowers' personality.

"At this point, I haven't been convinced that Tyrone committed suicide nor that he accidentally killed himself," Arby Davis, Flowers' father, testified moments before deliberations, using his son's middle name.

Mayor Paul Farris had publicly speculated that Flowers died accidentally while trying to asphyxiate himself. No testimony was given to support that assertion.

A second autopsy

The family sent Flowers' body to Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., for a second autopsy but would not give the results to Barkett. And they had a Chicago civil rights lawyer, William F. Spielberger, on hand to monitor the inquest.

The case has aggravated already poor race relations in Cairo, a town with a history of black struggle against white dominance.

Barkett "was trying to sell the jury what they wanted to see," said Melinda Flowers, Demetrius Flowers' sister.

From the Paducah Sun...

Cairo family rejects verdict of jail suicide

CAIRO, Ill. - After being presented with evidence and a jury's ruling that Demetrius Tyrone Flowers hung himself at the Cairo Police Department on Dec. 14, his family and friends still aren't convinced it was an accident.

An Alexander County courtroom was packed for most of the eight-hour coroner's inquest Friday. Numerous officers, dispatchers, and other witnesses took the stand, where they recounted first-and second-hand accounts of what happened the night Flowers walked into his jail cell and never walked out.

Following the six-panel jury's verdict of suicide from "cerebral hypoxia by ligature strangulation," Flowers' family and friends began to talk about their next course of action, which includes a "people's inquest" at 1:30 p.m. April 29 at Holy City Church of God in Christ on 18th Street.

Asked by the Sun before the verdict whether a civil or wrongful death lawsuit would be filed, Flowers' father, Arby Davis, said, "We're entertaining the notion. My main thing was to make sure somebody was accountable for his death. ... Finding dead bodies in a jail cell is a problem."

After the jury read its decision, Davis said it surprised him, and when asked by numerous reporters about possible legal action, he said the family wants to "take a little rest. It's been a long four months. It's taken a lot of energy out of us."

After those called to testify Friday answered questions from county Coroner David Barkett and the six jurors, videotapes from various camera angles at the police station recorded during the early morning hours of Dec. 14 were shown. Most of the images weren't clear. Some relatives, including Davis, walked out in frustration because they couldn't see anything on the 19-inch television from their seats.

The tape also drew whispers and murmurs from the crowd, as people tried to figure out what they were seeing. Confusion stemmed from poor quality of images shown through time-lapsed photography instead of streaming video.

The video did not show Flowers tie his shoelaces together and hang himself "but officers said that action was implied because the video showed no one entering Flowers" jail cell between 4:11 a.m., when he was put there, and around 9:15 a.m., when he was found.

During those five hours, only Flowers' feet and legs are visible on the video. At the beginning of the video, Flowers paced around the cell for a few minutes, then took off his shoes. When he stood up, a shoelace is briefly visible.

Flowers then disappeared from the video for several minutes; police said they believe he was standing on the bed and tying his shoelaces to a light fixture on the wall above him. Flowers then steps back into view and turns toward the bed. He steps toward it, disappearing again briefly, and then his foot comes back into view. It spasms, then is still. It doesn't move again.

At this point in the video, it's not yet 4:30 a.m. Flowers wouldn't be found for about five hours. Dispatchers said they thought he was sleeping, as he had done when he was brought in during previous arrests.

Vanderburg County, Ind., medical examiner Dr. Mark LeVaughn examined the body. Toxicology tests revealed Flowers had traces of THC (marijuana) in his system, along with a blood-alcohol content of .078, just below the legal limit of .08 percent. Still, LeVaughn said that level is high enough to cause an "impaired sense of control" and "loss of judgment."

Illinois State Police Crime Scene Technician Pete Sopczak reviewed the video for the jurors and gave his commentary of what he believed was happening in particular scenes, such as the strangulation, when only Flowers feet could be seen because the camera outside his cell was angled downward.

Cairo Police Chief John Bosecker testified that he cut down Flowers' body after being called to the cell when the body was found by dispatcher Don Beggs.

"I shouldn�t have done it," Bosecker said of cutting down Flowers, "but I done it thinking I'd get him down."

On Jan. 30, Mayor Paul Farris fired Cairo police lieutenants Gary Hankins and Timothy Brown, along with Beggs, citing negligence, either for not taking Flowers' shoelaces or by not adequately monitoring him.

At Friday's inquest, the chief accepted some of the blame.

"It's my department, and I take responsibility for them not following procedure," Bosecker said, adding that until Flowers' death, the entire department was violating a policy enacted more than two years ago. All inmates are to be checked in person every 15 minutes. Flowers and other inmates were only checked by video every 30 minutes, dispatchers admitted and the videotape confirmed.

Charles Koen, founder of United Front, a civil rights group supporting the family, made many accusations about Flowers' death being murder, but when asked by Barkett to present proof, he said he didn't have it available. Neither did Davis, who previously said he had proof his son was murdered, Barkett said.

Koen is leading next week's "people's inquest," which probably won't include any of the officials who testified Friday.

Barbara Harris, Flowers' live-in girlfriend, was not interviewed because Barkett and Alexander County State's Attorney Jeffery B. Farris said her earlier claims were discredited by videotape and interviews. She had told the Sun and other media outlets that she was at the jail and could hear Flowers being beaten, but the tape didn't show Harris at the jail or anyone with Flowers in his cell.

Koen called the entire investigation a sham.

There was some confusion during the inquest over who cut Flowers free from the shoestrings, causing Barkett to call county ambulance service technician Sherry Lorenzana back to the stand to clarify whether she specifically saw her partner, Brandon Manker, do the cutting.

He said the police did, and the police chief confirmed this when he took the stand. Many in the crowd started talking about the mistaken assumption, causing Barkett to warn the crowd that outbursts would be treated as "disturbing the peace," and violators would be cited.

Brown, one of the fired officers, did not appear in response to a summons, and Barkett said that any repercussions would be left up to the state's attorney.

Deborah Flowers-Chars, Demetrius Flowers' mother, wasn't happy with the outcome. "We're not worried about what they said - we know what happened."

After the jury reached its verdict, Barkett told the media that people who said Flowers was murdered had been reacting to hearsay. He said the process was followed according to state law, and all evidence in the case would be turned over to state's attorney Farris.

Flowers' father, Davis, who hoped the jury wouldn't be swayed by the evidence and videotape, simply put his hands up, saying, "There's nothing else I can do."

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Jail death ruled suicide: After daylong video and testimony, man in Cairo cell said to have taken own life

by andrea hahn, the southern

CAIRO - A coroner's jury called by Alexander County Coroner David Barkett took 33 minutes Friday to find that Demetrius Flowers, 38, committed suicide in a holding cell in the Cairo Police Department on Dec. 14.

The finding was read by the jury foreman, Vernon Stubblefield, after a full day of testimony and video footage. Stubblefield said the jury found Flowers died of cerebral hypoxia from ligature strangulation caused by hanging.

Arby Davis, Flowers' father, said he could not yet accept the finding of suicide for his son's death. Somewhat overwhelmed by the media and community presence after the finding was read, he said he is still seeking the whole truth about why his son died.

"At this point I'm not really sure (what my next step will be)," he said. "I've been asked several times about (a civil suit). At this point, I want to take a respite from it."

Medical testimony from forensic pathologist Dr. Mark Lavon and Illinois State Police Crime Scene Investigator Pete Sopczak explained how Flowers died.

Neither could answer the question posed by one juror after seeing hours of video on fast-forward of an unmoving Flowers - "I just want to know why? Why would you just look at a video and not go back and check on him?"

"That's beyond my scope, ma'am," Sopczak answered.

According to testimony provided by a dozen witnesses and expert witnesses called to the stand, Flowers was taken to the police department at about 3 a.m. on Dec. 14 to remove him from a domestic confrontation on Park Street.

Barbara Harris, mother of Flowers' children, called 911 to report that Flowers had struck her brother, Gerald Harris, in the face. Flowers told police Gerald Harris was exposing himself in front of Flowers' children.

At the police department, Cpl. Terry Crowe and Lt. Gary Hankins released Flowers from custody, ordering him to stay away from the Park Street residence. He was advised to contact the state's attorney's office and the Department of Children and Family Services in the morning. Flowers left the police department on foot.

At around 3:40 a.m., Lt. Tim Brown came on duty early for the beginning of his 6 a.m. shift, as was his custom at the department. He initially told Hankins and Crowe he could handle the shift without them. However, a call came in about a domestic disturbance involving Flowers at the Park Street residence. Crowe and Hankins stayed to assist.

At around 4 a.m., officers arrived on the scene. Flowers voluntarily and without being handcuffed got in Brown's squad car, and the police and Flowers returned to the police department.

Video from the booking room shows Flowers becoming animated as he apparently tried to explain his side of the story. However, he seemed to be in compliance with officers' requests and did not visibly resist being taken to the holding cell.

According to the video clock, Flowers was in his cell at 4:09 a.m. At 4:11 a.m., Crowe returned to the cell to take Flowers' wallet, which he had forgotten to remove during booking.

At 4:13 a.m., Flowers' shoes appear to be tossed under the bench, presumably when he removed his shoes. He is seen standing, arguably with a long shoestring in his hand. Then he disappears from the video for several minutes. Sopczak said that is likely when he stood on the bench to thread one end of the shoestring into a metal grille over a light fixture.

When Flowers reappeared on the tape, only his legs and feet were visible as he sat on the bench. His socked foot was spasming or twitching. At 4:24 a.m., his movements ceased. He did not move again.

The next movement at the cell is at about 9 a.m., when former telecommunicator Don Beggs appeared with Flowers' breakfast.

Flowers was found with a shoestring around his neck that was attached to the light fixture grille. He was in a seated position, with his hands on his thighs. His neck was slightly stretched, and his backside was suspended several inches above the bench. His feet were on the floor.

"I do take responsibility for them not following (the written policy for booking a detainee)," Cairo Police Chief John Bosecker said during his testimony.

Bosecker said written policy dictates that items of personal property be taken from detainees at booking - including shoes or shoelaces. Written policy also dictates that detainees are to be visually checked in person every 15 minutes while in custody at the police department.

Flowers was left in his cell with shoes and the shoelaces he used to hang himself. Beggs and Telecommunicator Regina Meyer, the two dispatchers on duty that morning in back-to-back shifts who were responsible for checking on Flowers, said they checked him by video every 30 minutes.

Bosecker said his department has many inexperienced officers and realizes high turnover. Not everyone was trained on the "new" regulations pertaining to detainee checks. The new regulations were in place since 2003, he said.

The holding cell video footage was difficult to see. Cassandra Davis, Arby's wife, said she couldn't make out what was happening on the video and therefore didn't find it convincing. Murmurs from the crowd in the courtroom expressed a similar sentiment.

Sopczak, who presented the video, acknowledged the video angle was poor.

"I know it's hard to see a lot of it on the first view," he said. "We watched it over and over (during our investigation) - so I know it's hard to see unless things are pointed out."

The video was stopped, played again and fast-forwarded at the jury foreman's request.

Barkett called Arby Davis and the Rev. Charles Koen as his last two witnesses. Both men had, at different times, indicated they had proof Flowers was murdered. Neither offered proof on the stand.

Before the jury returned its finding, Koen said the inquest was a sham because Barbara Harris, who was present, was not called to the stand. Harris claimed she heard sounds of a violent struggle and heard Flowers yelling for help when she was at the police station shortly after his arrest and until about 5 a.m. In an interview at the courthouse, she said she was threatened with arrest if she didn't leave the premises.

Harris did not appear in any of the video footage from the morning, neither outside, nor in the lobby, nor in any other part of the police department.

While the video didn't show everything, it did show one significant absence. No one physically checked on Flowers the entire time he was in custody until breakfast time.

Cairo Mayor Paul Farris suspended Crowe, Hankins, Brown, Meyer and Beggs on Dec. 19, 2005. Meyer and Crowe have returned to work. Hankins, Brown and Beggs were fired. Brown, who was named as a witness, did not appear at the inquest.