Attorneys for the family of Irvo Otieno, a man who died in police custody during a mental crisis, asked the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into his death, according to The Associated Press. The request comes right behind the resignation of the county’s prosecuting attorney.
In a letter from Ben Crump Law, PLLC, the civil rights attorney requested for the DOJ to lend their resources to prosecute the seven deputies and one hospital worker criminally charged in the March incident. Otieno’s mother called the police to report a mental crisis but the officers who responded to the area were looking for a burglary suspect. Otieno was taken into custody and transported to a psychiatric hospital days later. During intake, he was restrained on the ground for 12 minutes by the weight of the seven deputies. The chief medical examiner ruled his death as a homicide.
The story about the incident blew up only after the deputies and three hospital workers were slammed with second-degree murder. However, two of the workers had their charges dropped amidst major changes to the prosecutor’s office. Now, Crump called in reinforcements to make sure everyone else is still held accountable.
“Unless the Department of Justice prosecutes this matter in federal court, the four-day cycle of violence brought to bear upon a young man in mental health crisis will not be fully and ably addressed,” wrote Crump.
Read more from Crump’s letter:
The resources of the U.S. Department of Justice are necessary to ably and properly prosecute the defendants. Seven Henrico County deputies and three Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (“DBHDS”) employees were indicted by a Dinwiddie County grand jury for murdering Mr. Otieno. Subsequently, Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Baskervill nolle prossed charges against two of the three indicted DBHDS employees. Then, Ms. Baskervill resigned her position,
On June 21, 2023, the three Circuit Court judges who preside in Dinwiddie County selected an attorney with no prosecutorial experience and minimal jury trial experience to assume the role of interim Commonwealth’s Attorney. In our opinion, the newly appointed CA and his similarly new, small staff – with an ample caseload apart from the indictment of Mr. Otieno’s killers – are not adequately prepared to prosecute the eight defendants, all of whom have separate, experienced counsel.