DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. — The criminal case surrounding the death of Irvo Otieno has taken an "interesting path," according to a defense attorney of one of the defendants.
It started with the original prosecutor charging ten people with the very serious offense of second-degree murder, but that eventually dwindled down to just three people facing reduced charges of involuntary manslaughter.
One of them, Wavie Jones, stood trial this week and was found not guilty. As for the remaining two defendants, what happens next isn't entirely clear.
On March 6, 2023, Otieno died on the floor of an admission room at Central State Hospital as he was being restrained for more than 10 minutes by Henrico County deputies and hospital staff, video showed. Deputies had just transported Otieno to the hospital as he was in the midst of a mental health crisis that had been ongoing for multiple days.
On March 13, 2023, former Dinwiddie Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Baskervill made a highly unusual decision to charge ten deputies and hospital staff with second-degree murder without first obtaining an indictment from a grand jury.
At the time, Baskervill said she took that action after watching surveillance video from Central State Hospital that she believed showed officers and workers smothering Otieno to death.
Eighteen months later, a jury didn't buy that argument. After four days of hearing testimony, reviewing evidence, and watching video, twelve jurors reached a unanimous decision in just 20 minutes to acquit former hospital security worker Wavie Jones of involuntary manslaughter.
“The narrative that's been put out in the public about this is completely wrong," Jones' defense attorney Doug Ramseur said Thursday after the conclusion of the trial. “Miss Baskervill, frankly, made the wrong decision. We knew it at the time. The people involved knew at the time. It was a rush to judgment that was made based on a lack of information.”
Baskervill ultimately resigned in June 2023 just three months after bringing the murder charges, leaving the cases in the hands of a different prosecutor.
CBS 6 reached out to Baskervill for comment but has not yet heard back.
Dinwiddie Commonwealth's Attorney Amanda Mann led the prosecution in court his week and continued to argue that Jones and others forcefully pressed down on Otieno's body while he was in a prone position until he could no longer breathe. But prosecutors struggled to get a majority of witnesses to testify in support of that claim.
In fact, most witnesses, including those called to the stand by the prosecution, stated that Jones was trying to prevent Otieno from rolling onto his stomach and attempted to keep him on his side so that he could breathe.
“This was a systematic dismantling of the story that had been created before," Ramseur said.
Otieno's mother Caroline Ouko appeared unsatisfied with the prosecution's performance throughout the trial. During the commonwealth's questioning of the defendant, she called prosecutors' cross-examination "weak."
Moments after the verdict was read aloud, Ouko shouted the words "miscarriage of justice" causing her to be removed from the courtroom by the judge.
“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," Ouko said after the trial.
Otieno's family and friends said the defense criminalized Otieno's mental illness and used the symptoms of his crisis against him.
In court, defense attorneys displayed videos of Otieno in the days leading up to his arrival at Central State that showed Otieno's behavior as he suffered from his crisis. Otieno had schizoaffective disorder.
Otieno was described as aggressive, agitated, violent, threatening, and dangerous. A mental health evaluation from the day before Otieno died found he was homicidal, manic, hadn't slept in six days, was nonsensical, and responding to internal stimuli.
“Brother Irvo was questioned and prosecuted more heavily than the defendant was," family organizer Allan Chipman said. "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."
Two defendants still face an involuntary manslaughter charge in Otieno's death, including Henrico deputies Kaiyell Sanders and Brandon Rodgers.
Sanders' attorney Ed Riley told CBS 6 his client is innocent and believes the jury in the Jones trial made the right call, adding it "speaks volumes" that it only took 20 minutes for jurors to return a verdict.
As of right now, a trial for Sanders is still set for December, but Riley expects to touch base again with the commonwealth in the coming days.
He added that most of the evidence presented in Jones' trial would likely be repeated in Sanders' case.
CBS 6 asked Mann whether she still plans to move forward with the remaining trials considering Jones was acquitted and did not receive a response.
Mann released the following statement Thursday: "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, it is 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."
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