Richko Ex Rel. Horvath v. Wayne County

819 F.3d 907, 2016 FED App. 0093P, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6835, 2016 WL 1533997
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 15, 2016
Docket15-1524
StatusPublished
Cited by168 cases

This text of 819 F.3d 907 (Richko Ex Rel. Horvath v. Wayne County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Richko Ex Rel. Horvath v. Wayne County, 819 F.3d 907, 2016 FED App. 0093P, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6835, 2016 WL 1533997 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. .. .

Jeffrey Horvath died on September 21, 2011 after being beaten and stabbed by cellmate Brandon Gillespie inside the mental-health ward of Michigan’s Wayne County Jail. Linda Richko, as the personal representative of Horvath’s estate, filed this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983,1985, 1986, and 1988. She alleged that Wayne County and jail personnel Larry Cameron, Andre Stinson, and April Williams were *911 deliberately indifferent to Horvath’s safety, in violation of his Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Specifically, Richko alleged that the defendants knew or should have known that Gillespie’s dangerous and violent propensities presented a-substantial risk-of serious harm to Horvath, but disregarded that risk by. (1) allowing Gillespie to be placed in Hor-vath’s cell, and (2) failing to adequately respond to the ensuing assault.

The district court denied summary judgment to all of the defendants, concluding that a genuine dispute existed regarding whether Wayne County and the individual defendants violated Horvath’s constitutional rights by disregarding a substantial risk of serious harm to Horvath. The individual defendants have filed this interlocutory appeal on the basis of qualified immunity. Wayne County has also appealed, asserting pendent jurisdiction. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court with regard to the individual defendants 'and DISMISS Wayne County’s interlocutory appeal for lack of jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Assault on Horvath

On September 13, 2011, the police in Deai'born, Michigan arrested Horvath based on an outstanding warrant for a nonviolent misdemeanor. Horvath was later booked at the Wayne County Jail. Officials noted that Horvath had undergone prior mental-health treatment and accordingly placed him in “4SW,” the jail’s mental-health unit. Unable to post bail, Hor-vath remained in 4SW for eight days.

On the evening of September 20, Hor-vath requested that he be moved out of his original cell due to a malfunctioning toilet. He was then placed in cell 14 of 4SW. A short time later, Gillespie was placed in the same cell. The two spent the night in cell 14 without apparent incident.

On the morning of September 21, approximately an hour before the attack took place, Horvath was scheduled for an x-ray examination. Deputy Stinson, who was manning the ward’s duty station, said that at approximately 7:40 a.m., he “flick[ed] the lights” on and off in cell 14 to get Horvath’s attention. He then “yell[ed] through the sally port slot” of the duty station to summon Horvath from his cell. After Stinson remotely opened the cell door, Horvath stepped to the “outside of [the] duty station-in front of-the ... wire window.” Stinson later stated that, upon exiting the cell, Horvath “was outside in the hallway” and “off the ward completely.”

When Stinson informed Horvath that it was time for his x-ray, Horvath protested. He asked if the x-ray was really necessary, noting that he anticipated “getting out tomorrow.” Stinson then called down to the medical unit- and learned that Horvath’s protest was -moot because the x-ray had in fact -been cancelled. Notably, during this conversation . with Stinson, ’ Horvath expressed no concerns about being housed with Ghlespi,e. Stinson then directed Hor-vath to return to cell 14 at approximately 7:44 a.m.

That same morning, Gillespie began experiencing auditory hallucinations. He said that voices were “having sex, yelling at [him], [and] trying to make deals with [him],” -. which ■ caused him - to become aroused. Sometime between 8:34 a.m. and 9 a.m., the Complaint alleges that, as -a result of these hallucinations, Gillespie assaulted Horvath “by punching him in the head and face several times, delivering blows to his face with his foot and knee, stabbing him multiple times in the face with a pencil, and sodomizing him either pre- or post-mortem, causing serious inju *912 ries resulting in his death.” Gillespie later told investigators that he was angered by-Horvath, whom he believed “was trying to be gay.”

Several inmates housed in 4SW during this time reported hearing a series of loud “thumps” coming from Horvath’s cell and seeing water flowing out of the cell into the ward. Due to the fact that solid walls separate one cell from the next, they were unable to see into Horvath’s cell. One inmate heard banging and a voice yelling: “Let me out. Let me out.” Another inmate grew concerned about the banging and called out to Horvath to ask if he was okay. Gillespie shouted back: “Stay out of this or I’ll-[f* * *ing] kill you.”

Nurse April Williams, who had been administering medication to inmates in 4SW during this time, arrived at cell 14 at approximately 8:50 a.m. and found Gillespie standing at the bars with his genitals exposed. According to Williams’s deposition, Gillespie made lewd comments and asked her if his penis was “infected.” ■ Williams saw no sign of Horvath in -the cell. She then notified Stinson, again at approximately 8:50 a.m., that she had been unable to locate Horvath.

At approximately 9:00 a.m., Stinson called another officer to assist him so that he could enter the ward. Stinson’s' deposition does not.explain the ten-minute delay in responding to Williams’s notification that Horvath was missing. When he entered the ward, Stinson found Gillespie standing at the front of cell 14. He also noticed water on the floor of the cell, a blanket shoved into the toilet, and two mattresses stacked on top of each other. Stinson entered the cell and found Hor-vath’s body sandwiched between the mattresses. According to the Complaint, Hor-vath was “hemorrhaging blood between the scalp and skull into both jaws,” and his “eyes were bloody and swollen, with multiple puncture wounds around the eyes, the bridge of the nose, and his lip pushing into his teeth.” Stinson called for another guard in the duty station to sound a medical alert. Williams, who was either standing outside the ward or in a meeting, then reentered the ward with another nurse and began administering CPR. Efforts to resuscitate Horvath were unsuccessful, and he was declared dead at 9:29 a.m.

B. Gillespie’s intake and medical examinations

On September 19, 2011, Gillespie was arrested for felonious assault after allegedly threatening a bus driver with a knife. He was brought to the Wayne County Jail, where he underwent several screening interviews over the course of the night and the following day. Because Gillespie had not been previously housed in the Jail, there were no internal records regarding his mental-health history. But, as discussed below, Gillespie did report to the medical staff that he had both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and that he had not taken his prescribed medications for six days.

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Bluebook (online)
819 F.3d 907, 2016 FED App. 0093P, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 6835, 2016 WL 1533997, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richko-ex-rel-horvath-v-wayne-county-ca6-2016.