Dinwiddie prosecutor tries again for Otieno suspects to be tried together
DINWIDDIE – Fresh off setting aside murder charges against two of the 10 defendants in the Irvo Otieno murder case, the county’s lead prosecutor once again is asking for the remainder of them to be tried jointly. This time, though, she has proposed an alternative plan.
In an amended motion filed Wednesday on the day she leaves office, Commonwealth’s Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill has asked that should the request for a joint trial for all be turned down again, then the eight suspects should be tried in two or three trials and grouped based on their level of responsibility in Otieno’s death. The second-degree murder charges would remain intact.
The request is an addendum to a motion Baskervill filed in late April to have all 10 suspects tried together, which Circuit Court Judge Joseph Teefey denied in May after each defendant had their court hearings. It comes a day after the prosecution withdrew second-degree murder charges against former Central State Hospital security officers Darian M. Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg, and Sadarius Williams, 27, of Dinwiddie. Baskervill asked for the charges against them be set aside because their level of responsibility for Otieno’s death was not at the level as the others.
More: Dinwiddie drops charges against two of 10 suspects in Irvo Otieno death case
Still facing second-degree murder charges are Henrico County deputies Jermaine Lavar Branch, 45; Bradley Thomas Disse, 43; Randy Joseph Boyer, 57; Dwayne Alan Bramble, 37; Tabitha Rene Levere, 50; Brandon Edward Rodgers, 48; and Kaiyell Dajour Sanders, 30; and former hospital employee Wavie L. Jones, 34, of Chesterfield.
Otieno, a 28-year-old Henrico County man who suffered from mental issues, died March 6 as he was being processed into Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie by the deputies.
Three days before his death, Otieno was taken into custody on a burglary allegation, but at the time of his arrest, he was suffering a mental health crisis. He was taken to a Henrico hospital for treatment but allegedly whisked away from the hospital to one of the county’s jails.
Otieno's family maintains he did not receive any of his prescribed medications from the day he was taken from his home until the day he died.
Surveillance videos from the day he died showed an incoherent Otieno being manhandled by deputies at the jail, then being pinned to the floor by as many as 10 deputies and hospital personnel for a 12-minute period after authorities claimed he became disruptive. The state medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be suffocation and classified it as a homicide.
In the motion, she is asking that Sanders, Bramble, Boyer and Rodgers be tried together because they interacted with Otieno at the Henrico jail before taking him to Dinwiddie County.
“To the extent that there was acrimony that occurred at the jail, that would provide a motive for animosity towards Otieno,” the amended motion reads. “To the Commonwealth, these four are the most culpable defendants charged.”
The other defendants – Branch, Disse, Levere and Jones – should be tried separately from the others because they only became involved with Otieno at Central State. However, Baskervill noted that Jones could be tried by himself because as a CSH employee he had “different responsibilities, different knowledge of the situation, different training and different motives than the remaining three defendants.”
The three deputies should be tried together, the prosecutor argued, because they learned of the acrimonious encounter at the jail. That establishes some motive, plus the three had the same responsibilities, chains of command and training as their colleagues.
“Their levels of culpability are such that the fact-finder will be well-positioned to determine any nuances, differences or similarities, none to the prejudice of the other,” the motion read.
On Tuesday when she withdrew the charges against Blackwell and Williams, Baskervill said she did so because that would intensify the prosecution’s case against the defendants.
“The decision to withdraw the charges was heavy but it was not difficult,” she said in an email to The Progress-Index. “I believe this places the prosecution of Irvo Otieno’s homicide in the strongest possible position upon my departure. There is no doubt in my mind that the commonwealth is now in a position to win when this ultimately goes to trial, and that truth, transparency, and justice will prevail.”
The motion for joint trials was filed the same day that Baskervill’s resignation as commonwealth’s attorney became official. She is stepping down to study international policy in France, and she was accepted to the school in Paris on March 4, two days before Otieno was killed. She maintains her resignation is not related to the case.
Baskervill had already announced she was not seeking re-election as Dinwiddie’s lead prosecutor.
An interim successor is expected to be named Wednesday.
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 prosecutor tries again for Otieno suspects to be tried together
