Should jail deaths get an independent review? In some cases no, this TX lawmaker says
A Texas bill would eliminate the requirement for independent reviews of Texas jail deaths when they’re the result of natural causes.
Reviews also would not be necessary in cases when the person is “lawfully executed” or it does not appear a crime has been committed.
Fort Worth Republican Sen. Brian Birdwell filed the bill, Senate Bill 1896, in March. It passed the Criminal Justice Committee but has yet to be heard by the Senate. If approved by the Senate, it would have to pass the House before it goes to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn spoke about third-party investigations of deaths in custody during a November Senate hearing. As an example, Waybourn told the committee about an inmate with Stage 4 cancer who died in custody. The Texas Rangers still needed to get involved in the case.
Waybourn said he believed there could be a reform that saves time. The county medical examiner, Texas Attorney General’s office and Texas Commission on Jail Standards review all in-custody deaths, he said.
“I just think that maybe we can look at a better way of doing that,” Waybourn said. “We want accountability, but sometimes it’s like, ‘Golly, what could he be doing? A murder case or something else other than reviewing this case.’”
Waybourn’s involvement in the bill ahead of its drafting was “minimal,” a representative for the sheriff’s office said, without elaborating.
“He does support the bill, though,” the representative said.
Texas had made progress toward reform in its handling of custodial deaths with the Sandra Bland Act, which required mandatory investigations into deaths in custody, said Krish Gundu of the Texas Jail Project. Senate Bill 1896 “backslides” on that progress, Gundu said.
“It’s really alarming, because when you say ‘natural death,’ you don’t know if it’s natural unless you investigate it. Right?” Gundu said. “And if you don’t investigate it, how do you know it was natural or not?”
If passed, Gundu said the bill will make a system that is already opaque even more opaque. Families of those who die in custody only want answers in the end.
“Otherwise it’s like an unspoken, unwritten death sentence,” Gundu said.
The bill comes as Tarrant County faces questions surrounding the 2019 in-custody death of Robert Miller.
Miller’s death was ruled “natural” as a result of a sickle cell crisis. Members of Miller’s family and experts who spoke to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for an investigation into his death say he never had the disease.
The Texas Rangers investigated Miller’s death and agreed with original autopsy’s findings.
Though the bill eliminates the requirement for independent reviews into jail deaths as the result of natural causes, it does not prohibit county leaders from commissioning third-party reviews themselves, like Tarrant County leaders did in Miller’s case.
Tarrant County contracted with Bloomington, Illinois-based medical examiner J. Scott Denton to review Miller’s autopsy, but the review never happened because the county never sent Denton materials.
Leaders said the third-party review did not happen because results from Miller’s blood test came back from the Mayo Clinic confirming Miller had sickle cell trait. The county said the findings confirmed the original cause of death from a sickle cell crisis. Experts say that isn’t possible.
Gundu and Jonathan Guadian, a community organizer in Dallas and Fort Worth, said the bill could have a chilling effect.
“If it’s eliminating the legal requirements, then I’m assuming what may happen is the commissioners may request an investigation being called upon for a death within the custody of the jail, but then, you know, the sheriff coming back and saying that it’s not a legal requirements anymore,” Guadian said. “So they can always leverage that power against them.”
Guadian worries what effect the bill could have on cases like Miller’s if it is passed.
“If this bill is approved at the legislative session, then I am very certain that Robert Miller’s death will not receive the investigation that it deserves,” Guadian said. “And also other deaths within the jail will also not be receiving these kinds of investigations or any information being actually disseminated from them.”
Sebastian Van Coevorden, who represents Miller’s widow Shanelle Jenkins as she pursues a wrongful death lawsuit against the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, said the only reason the legal team was able to get the information for the case was because of that third-party investigation by the Texas Rangers.
“The legislators shouldn’t be moving toward getting rid of investigations of these deaths, but rather adding to the investigative powers that they currently have,” Van Coevorden said.
Gundu agreed.
“If sheriff’s offices were serious about winning the confidence and trust of their community, this is the exact opposite of what they should be doing,” Gundu said. “This takes away, this erodes the community’s trust in the sheriff’s office when you say that we don’t need to investigate a custodial death, because it is their job to keep people safe and alive.”
Van Coevorden added that the investigations from the Texas Rangers are often not enough to overcome natural deaths in custody with extenuating circumstances.
Birdwell did not immediately return a phone call and email for comment.
County commissioners are expected to discuss the Miller case in closed session during their Tuesday meeting.
This story was originally published May 1, 2023 at 2:54 PM.
