DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- A jury found former Central State Hospital employee Wavie Jones not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Irvo Otieno.
Otieno died on March 6, 2023 at a public psychiatric facility, Central State Hospital, while surrounded by Henrico County sheriff's deputies and hospital staff. Otieno had been transported to the hospital by deputies while suffering a mental health crisis.
Surveillance video showed hospital staff and deputies restraining Otieno on the floor of a hospital admission room for more than 10 minutes.
The trial began Monday afternoon.
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TIMELINE: What we know about the events leading up to Irvo Otieno's death
"My son was in the depths of a mental health crisis," said Caroline Ouko, Otieno's mother, after the verdict. "The verdict here today shows us very clearly that those persons that find themselves in a crisis like my son did have no protection under the law."
Allan Chipman, lead organizer for Otieno's family, said they just came away from a trial where Otieno was "questioned and prosecuted more heavily than the defendant was.
"And this is alarming not just for mother Caroline, but for the mothers, families, loved ones and members of the Commonwealth who are at risk of being in a mental health crisis," Chipman said.
WATCH: Family speaks after hospital worker acquitted in Irvo Otieno death: 'This is alarming'
Defense attorney Doug Ramseur said after the verdict that Jones was "put through 18 months of hell of being wrongfully charged, because he came to work to do his job to try and help people."
"Unfortunately, for the past 18 months, we’ve had to suffer the slings and arrows of distortions, intentional misrepresentations to the press from people who had 8.5 million reasons to sell a different version of this than what the truth was,” Ramseur said.
Of note, the Otieno family received an $8.5 million settlement from the state, Henrico County, and Henrico Sheriff following Otieno's death.
While Ramseur said the totality of the circumstances in the case may have highlighted systematic issues with how those in crisis are treated, none of it was his client's fault.
“We’re not saying there aren’t mistakes or things that could be done better in our system. We’re very sympathetic to the plight of the mentally ill. That’s what Mr. Jones was doing when he worked there — was trying to help those people in that situation, but he’s not the cause of those things. He didn’t do it then, and he shouldn’t bear the blame for any of it," he said.
WATCH: Defense attorney on acquittal in Irvo Otieno trial: ‘Everyone in that room was trying to help’
Dinwiddie Commonwealth's Attorney Amanda Mann released the following statement after the verdict:
"This is not the outcome we sought and while we are disappointed, we respect the jury's decision," Mann wrote. "Given there are additional cases stemming from Mr. Otieno's death pending, its not appropriate for me to comment further. It's important right now for information in these cases to be addressed in court, not the media and beyond."
In closing arguments on Thursday, the Commonwealth repeated that mental illness should not be a death sentence, while the defense pleaded with the jury not to hold Jones accountable for institutional failures to treat those with mental illness.
Prosecutors posed the question if Otieno would still be alive had Jones and others not piled onto him and restrained him on the floor of Central State Hospital for 12 minutes. They believe the answer is yes.
The Commonwealth also said Jones showed a complete disregard for Otieno's life, because he violated hospital policy and acted in contrary to his supervisors' order to get off Otieno.
Prosecutors warned the jury to not let the defense blame the victim, saying Otieno walked into a hospital for help while in crisis without threatening anyone, yet he died 20 minutes later.
The defense said, in its closing arguments to the jury, that "You can't always reason with mental illness."
They showed images and videos of Otieno leading up to his arrival at Central State, attempting to show his behavior toward officers and deputies as aggressive, combative, violent, and threatening.
The defense said prosecutors failed to prove that Jones forcefully pressed down onto Otieno's body or that he ever violated policy. Even if he had, they said it would be justified because Otieno was dangerous and Jones acted in self-defense.
Some of the key testimonies for the defense came from hospital workers who testified that Jones was actually trying to keep Otieno off his stomach and on his side so that he could breathe.
Additionally, three doctors said they disagreed with the medical examiner's determination that Otieno died of positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints. The medical experts all testified that Otieno suffered a sudden cardiac death and had pre-existing conditions that increased the risk of heart-related issues.
The defense's final word to the jury was, "Do not respond to a tragedy by creating another."
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