Baskervill, who filed second-degree murder charges against seven deputies and three hospital workers, released additional videos Wednesday, showing the deputies had an earlier confrontation. to Otieno, around 2:30 p.m., before his final moments at the hospital around 4:40 p.m. ABC News first obtained the jail footage, which showed deputies in Otieno’s cell for about 14 minutes.
Surveillance video from the Henrico County Jail partially shows the inside of Otieno’s cell. A deputy appeared to slide a piece of clothing to Otieno through the food-tray slot in the cell door, but the deputy and Otieno both began to pull the item. Otieno bangs on the glass window. A few moments later, the deputy reached the slot, pulled out an orange tray and tossed it aside. Four deputies crowded the door, and a struggle with Otieno through the doorway ensued.
At 2:31 pm on the timestamp of the video, the deputies opened the door and six of them entered the cell, while the others remained in the hallway. The deputies appeared to wrestle Otieno to the floor. A deputy’s arm was seen punching down in the scrum. More deputies then enter the cell.
At 2:45 in the afternoon, approximately 14 minutes after entering the cell, six people took Otieno out of the cell, and he did not seem to be moving. At the same time, footage from outside the jail showed deputies taking Otieno, whose pants were down, facing a carport, and placing him in the back of a van. After five minutes, a group took him again around the van, holding him by his arms and legs. They forced him into the back of an SUV around 2:56 p.m., and the car left at 3:10 p.m.
The Henrico County sheriff’s office, which runs the jail, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Friends and family said Otieno, a musician from Henrico, needed mental health treatment and instead was abused with excessive force. Mark Krudys, an attorney for the family, said jailhouse video showed Henrico County sheriff’s deputies beating and pepper-spraying Otieno.
Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor, who is investigating events at the jail separate from the Baskervill investigation, said her office has surveillance video from inside Otieno’s cell, but she won’t release it until his investigation will be completed. “That is the subject of my investigation,” Taylor said Wednesday.
In Dinwiddie County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Baskervill identified a sergeant with the sheriff’s department as “the most guilty” of all 10 people facing murder charges after placing a handcuffed Otieno during a mental health crisis.
Henrico County sheriff Sgt. Kaiyell Sanders, 30, of North Chesterfield, hit Otieno several times around the head and upper body in prison and played the “most aggressive” role later, in hospital, Baskervill said at a hearing in bond.
“This defendant is the most guilty of anyone,” said Baskervill, who noted that Sanders also has a special responsibility among sheriff’s deputies as a rank-and-file. “He has the responsibility as sergeant.”
Circuit Court Judge Joseph M. Teefey Jr. set. Sanders’ bond was set at $25,000 — significantly higher than the other defendants, despite claims from Sanders’ attorney, Edward Riley, that it was “very difficult to know” who made the surveillance video from in Central Virginia. Dinwiddie County State Hospital
The series of bond hearings that began last week and ended on Wednesday largely fueled attempts to remove a group of representatives and hospital staff to determine who Otieno had physical contact with. minors and whose potential is lethal.
Baskervill did not dispute that some defendants played more hand roles than others, but asserted that even the least involved failed to intervene.
“If anyone has shown any bit of care or common sense, Mr. Otieno is here today,” Baskervill said.
But after analyzing the photos taken from the video of the hospital – confused who put their hands or knees on Otieno, where they pressed his body, for how long and why – Teefey put a bond according to of the perceived physical role of each accused in the trial. . He set the highest bond for those with longer physical contact – or with more critical parts of Otieno’s body, such as his head or upper body – and the lowest for most bystanders. or is at Otieno’s feet.
In the case of several deputies, the judge and lawyers concluded that they were primarily involved in removing the leg restraints that he had arrived from the Henrico County Jail and replaced them with a pair owned by the hospital.
The judge set the lowest bond in the case – $5,000 – for the lone female defendant, deputy Tabitha Levere, 50. Her lawyer said Levere knelt on Otieno’s thigh and buttocks for “several minutes.” to help a hospital nurse give an injection. , but otherwise no contact with him. Bonds for the others were set at $10,000 to $15,000.
The other sheriff’s deputies charged are Virginia residents Jermaine Branch, 45, Randy Boyer, 57, Bradley Disse, 43, and Brandon Rodgers, 48, all of Henrico; as well as Dwayne Bramble, 37, of Sandston.
The hospital workers charged are: Darian Blackwell, 23, of Petersburg; Wavie Jones, 34, of Chesterfield; and Sadarius Williams, 27, of North Dinwiddie.
