Dinwiddie judge rejects defense motion to hold Irvo Otieno's body as evidence
DINWIDDIE – A Circuit Court judge has denied a defense request to hold the body of the man who died earlier this month at Central State Hospital while in custody of Henrico County deputies, saying that a corpse “is not a T-shirt" or something else that can be easily stored.
The request came Wednesday morning during a bond hearing for Kaiyel Dajour Sanders, who was in charge of the detail that transported Irvo Otieno to Central State on March 6 and who the prosecution called “the most culpable” of the 10 people facing second-degree murder charges. Otieno died shortly after arrival at CSH after seven deputies and three CSH security guards held down, and in some instances, lay across Otieno on the floor of the hospital administration area. The prosecution says Otieno was smothered under the weight of the people holding him down.
Otieno, a 28-year-old Kenya native living with his mother in Henrico County, was an aspiring writer, musician and singer who also had been dealing with mental-health issues for several years. At the time he was taken into custody over possible involvement in a neighborhood burglary until his death at the hospital three days later, Otieno was in a mental crisis and appeared in videos to be very lethargic and out of touch with reality. Deputies said they had to restrain him after becoming combative at the hospital, a claim the prosecution and his family refute.
Circuit Judge Joseph Teefey seemed somewhat perplexed after co-counsel Torrey Williams asked for a motion to “preserve the evidence” in the commonwealth’s case, which essentially was Otieno’s body. His remains currently are at the state medical examiner’s office in Richmond, and the ME has said it could be 10-12 weeks before a final report is issued.
Williams asked for the body to remain in the ME custody until they could get their own certified medical examiner to do an independent autopsy. Teefey repeatedly asked Williams what evidence he had to warrant such a motion, and Williams said it was “concern” driving the motion that not all of the commonwealth’s evidence was going to be available this early in the case process.
“When you start with ‘concern,’ you’re heading down the road to speculation,” the judge said. “What evidence do you have?”
“None,” Williams said.
Teefey was not finished. He asked if Williams had reached out to anyone yet to perform the independent autopsy, to which Williams replied he had not.
Teefey suggested that the defense “quickly” get someone with similar credentials as the state’s coroner to observe the autopsy process. He was, however, not going to order Otieno’s body not be released to his family for burial just because of speculation.
“Quite frankly, we’re not talking about a T-shirt or a vial of blood,” Teefey said. “We’re talking about the dignity of the human body. I’m going to deny your motion.”
The preservation motion was made after Teefey set Sanders’ bond at $25,000 when Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill called him “the most culpable, the most responsible” defendant in Otieno’s death because not only was he in charge of the detail at CSH but he also was the one who restrained Otieno the most of any of the deputies there, and spent most of the 12-minute restraining period holding Otieno’s head and upper body down. He also was the deputy seen in CSH surveillance footage feeling Otieno’s neck for a pulse once the deputies removed themselves from him.
More:Surveillance video shows deputies, hospital workers pinning Irvo Otieno to the ground
Emotional moments in court
The most emotional moments in all of the bond hearings came during Tabitha Renee Levere’s appearance right after Sanders’ time in court. One of the three witnesses was a retired Henrico sheriff’s employee who worked with Levere for 10 years and tearfully called her “the kindest person I ever met.”
Levere could be seen wiping her eyes during the hearing and on a couple of instances was given tissues by Baskervill.
One of Levere’s neighbors called her “our rock” at their apartment community because she always looked after the elderly residents. Juliana Hester recalled how Levere “dropped everything she was doing” and rushed a neighbor to the hospital after he apparently had a stroke.
“We all feel so much safer with her in the building,” Hester said.
Baskervill contended that Levere was the least hands-on of the suspects. She can be seen in the surveillance video assisting a nurse in rolling Otieno over for an injection after everyone got off of him.
However, Baskervill said, Levere's lack of action in persuading her colleagues to stop the restraint contributed to the final outcome.
“If any one person had shown emotional care or common sense for Mr. Otieno, he’d still be here today,” Baskervill said.
Baskervill said Levere had tried to speak to Otieno while he was at the jail, but she claimed he called her a “bitch.”
“[Levere] realized he was not going to deal with females, either,” the prosecutor said.
Teefey set Levere’s bail at $5,000, the lowest amount of all 10 suspects in the case.
All granted bond
By Wednesday afternoon, all 10 of the defendants had been granted bond. With the exception of Sanders and Levere, all of them were either $10,000 or $15,000, and all came with the stipulation that no one attempted to contact a co-defendant or have anything to do with anyone in the case for the duration.
Other defendants in the case are deputies Jermaine Lavar Branch, 45; Bradley Thomas Disse, 43; Randy Joseph Boyer, 57; Dwayne Alan Bramble, 37; and Brandon Edward Rodgers, 48; and CSH security guards Darian M. Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg, Wavie L. Jones, 34, of Chesterfield, and Sadarius D. Williams, 27, of North Dinwiddie.
All 10 were indicted Tuesday by a Dinwiddie grand jury on the charges.
More:Mother of Irvo Otieno 'happy' with indictments of deputies, hospital staff charged in his death
National civil-rights leader to deliver eulogy
Otieno’s family attorneys announced Wednesday that Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy at Otieno’s as-yet unscheduled memorial service. While the exact date and time are unknown, the location will be in First Baptist Church of South Richmond’s Chesterfield annex.
Sharpton is founder and president of the New York-based National Action Network, a civil-rights advocacy organization. Sharpton has been a prominent figure in recent high-profile cases involving the deaths of Black men and women across the nation.
Family co-counsel Ben Crump said the time and date of the service should be announced within the next few days.
More:Civil rights leader Al Sharpton to deliver eulogy for Irvo Otieno who died at mental health hospital
Meanwhile, the Dinwiddie County chapter of the Virginia NAACP has become the latest to weigh in on the events of March 6 at Central State.
Chapter president Betty Brown said in a statement that the group “stands in solidarity” with the Otieno family in seeking justice for those responsible for his death.
“It is imperative that law enforcement officers are trained in crisis intervention when they encounter an individual with mental health issues until certified Behavioral Health personnel arrive on the scene,” Brown wrote.
Earlier Wednesday, the chair of the Dinwiddie Board of Supervisors, Mark Moore, issued a statement also condemning the actions at the hospital and waited to reiterate that no one in the Dinwiddie County sheriff’s office was involved in Otieno’s death.
More:Dinwiddie judge denies defense motion for gag order in Irvo Otieno murder case
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Dinwiddie judge denies defense motion to hold body of mental patient
