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    NM man who pulled own tooth in jail awarded $22M

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded $22 million to a New Mexico man who was kept in solitary confinement for two years and forced to pull his own tooth after being arrested for drunken driving in Dona Ana County.

    Civil rights attorney Matt Coyte said the jury awarded Stephen Slevin, 58, the damages Tuesday after a six-day trial in Santa Fe.

    Jess Williams, spokesman for Dona Ana County, declined comment other than to say the county plans to appeal.

    "We have believe we have strong legal issues to raise with the appeal," he said.

    Slevin was arrested while driving through the southern New Mexico county in August 2005. He ended up in solitary confinement because he was suffering from depression and someone checked a box on a form indicating he was suicidal, Coyte said.

    Slevin was given some drugs for depression but never saw a mental health professional, Coyte said. He said his client wrote letters for months seeking help, but they were ignored.

    "By January 2006, his last letter goes out looking for help. Then he falls into this delirium. He was there for the next 20 months," Coyte said.

    Coyte said that in May 2007, Slevin was sent to a mental health facility in Las Vegas, N.M., for two weeks but then was returned to the Dona Ana County jail and solitary confinement.

    "He immediately decompensates," Coyte said. "He sends off another letter at this point asking for medical care. ... He is forced to pull his own tooth. He rocked it back and forth over a period of eight hours before he was able to pull it out of his mouth."

    Slevin was finally released in June 2007, Coyte said. He was never convicted.

    "He entered this facility with overt symptoms of mental depression," Coyte said. "But that's not the issue. ... He was stuck in a 6-foot-by-11-foot cell with a concrete bench for a bed. And he sat in that cell. We had documentary evidence that he didn't get out for anything — for recreation, a shower — for months at a time."

     
    • Ron  •  New York, New York  •  4 mths ago
      Judges and Officials should be held culpable in instances such as these...not the taxpayers!!!
      • Ea 4 mths ago
        No judge involved! That was one of the problems.
        He was never convicted. He never had the opportunity to seek bail.
      • MARK 4 mths ago
        The thumbs down is Republiturds, they hate other people evil people the Republiturds, think they are GOD"S Gift to the World!!!
      • Ron 4 mths ago
        I doubt that Mark...I am a Conservative...and Independent. Most Independents, Republicans and Democratic friends I know agree with me across the board...This is NOT a political issue...
    • JimH  •  Chatsworth, California  •  4 mths ago
      shouldn't the warden and the head of the prison system, not to mention any jailer on duty in solitary be fired and penalized. There is no accountability in gov't for anything. That is the real crime here.
      • Left is Wrong 4 mths ago
        Can't, they be Union guys!
      • Donnie G P 4 mths ago
        Maybe they should be confined to that same very cell for the same amount of time and then fired and lose all benefits !
      • William 4 mths ago
        the prison system is privatized, there not Gov.
    • Greg  •  4 mths ago
      I understand the county offered him $2,000,000.00 to settle before the Jury went into deliberation. They must have thought that they did something wrong.
      • D. 4 mths ago
        Classic government criminals. IF they cannot cover up their mess, they try to buy off the victim before the rest of us find out.

        I THANK THE MEDIA FOR THIS STORY !!!!
      • Bob_Bo46 4 mths ago
        They knew they did something wrong, no doubt, someone in charge should be locked up like he was, and for the same amount of time. If I were a judge, I would make sure that happened.
      • Ihave seenthe future 4 mths ago
        the 22 m award is not enough...and the people responsible should be arrested and show the same treatment
    • MarcD  •  4 mths ago
      New Mexico... isn't that the SAME state that an automated security camera happened to catch some state trooper boffing some woman on the hood of his cop car, and the police review board decided he'd broken NO laws? (But just YOU try that along a public highway like he did...)
      • Jane 4 mths ago
        Same state, I believe........thanks for reminding the posters.
      • D. 4 mths ago
        Great MarcD !!!

        Thanks for reminding us.

        Dirty criminal bureaucrats. Always a fun but annoying story.
      • Pembroke 4 mths ago
        typical democrat run shi+hole
    • Diogenes  •  4 mths ago
      With so many people behind bars, you have to wonder what other violations occur?
      • JoeMaverick 4 mths ago
        Diogenes - but most are poor and therefore will get next to zero attention from the DA or anyone else who might be able to help. That's why we had the Bill of Rights, but thanks to the Republican Party, we're losing that every day. Obama hasn't been much better.
      • Eli Webber 4 mths ago
        Its all about money that simple .And to answer your ? a lot. Look at the kids they had locked up in that Penn. Detention Ctr. they Gave the Judge a few years for getting kickbacks for illegal detention of Kids . no trials there either . just left the kids there to make money from a privatized system . till one kid commited suicide .. thats what they want to do, in a lot of States is privatize the prison system ..Jails and prisons make big money doing this and the tax payer foots the bill .. go figure . thats why people have to be more involved in all phases of Gov.
      • BryanD 4 mths ago
        Alot.
    • stephan  •  Anchorage, Alaska  •  4 mths ago
      Why are there no criminal charges against the police that kept him in this hell?

      Stephan G. Patterson
    • Amy  •  4 mths ago
      So he was never actually convicted of DUI, just arrested for it? Did the guy ever see a Judge? No legal representation given? No habeas corpus challenge filed? #$%$ Last I checked New Mexico was in the United States of America. This should never happen in this country.
    • JGB  •  4 mths ago
      Two years in jail and the charges dropped. This sounds kinda strange. Wonder if he will ever see any of that money. Also why solitary for a DWI ?
    • GS  •  4 mths ago
      How tragic. This man was totally ignored. Murderers get better treatment.
    • BourbonChicken  •  4 mths ago
      The right to a fair and speedy trial. Constitutionally protected rights. This man deserves the money and whoever ran that jail should be arrested for violating this persons rights.
    • Swede  •  St Helens, Oregon  •  4 mths ago
      Another example of how the police can take a bad situationa and make it much worse. Where was this guy's lawyer?
    • Enik von sleestak  •  Chicago, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      Who is in charge down there -Barney Fife???
    • then some  •  4 mths ago
      Yeah, I'd decline comment too. How many times a day are they suppose to count people in cells/rooms?
    • steve  •  4 mths ago
      they forgot about him for 2 years, costing tax payers 22 million. whoever forgot should be fired. incompetence is rampant in this country.
    • JC  •  4 mths ago
      I'm mad as hell. I'm not mad that this person got $20million, but mad at the bureaucracy in this country that leads to this type of situation. And we all know who pays... the taxpayers. Police will simply write more tickets to cover it. Sick...
    • David F  •  MacHesney Park, Illinois  •  4 mths ago
      I donot understand this... He spent all that time in jail for a d.u.i. That is crazy. What has happened to a speedy court date?
    • Chronos Chronos  •  4 mths ago
      Apparently, the Constitutional rights of Americans mean nothing to these folks running the jails. I believe they should be tried for Treason, since they openly subvert the foundation of our government.
    • Craftymam  •  4 mths ago
      Just remember folks. This IS an INNOCENT person who was allowed to be abused by the system. This could easily happen to any one of us at anytime.
    • MAMA  •  4 mths ago
      Forgotten in jail. How does that happen with the numerous Counts? He wasn't forgotten, he was IGNORED. This is the kind of punishment they should give Sex Offenders.
    • Anonymous  •  3 mths ago
      We have a new winner for world's dumbest jury...
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