OAKLAND — Alameda County District Legal professional Ursula Jones Dickson plans to dismiss prices in opposition to 8 of the 11 individuals prosecuted within the demise of Maurice Monk, who died in 2021 after languishing for days in his Santa Rita Jail cell, Monk’s sister mentioned Wednesday.
The choice — which is anticipated to be finalized at a courtroom listening to Thursday morning — marks the newest occasion of Jones Dickson scaling again the work of her predecessor, Pamela Worth. The previous district lawyer filed the case simply days after the November 2024 election, when voters recalled the civil rights attorney-turned-prosecutor from workplace.
Monk’s sister, Elvira Monk, mentioned she was notified by Jones Dickson’s workplace Wednesday of the choice to dismiss instances in opposition to eight of the 11 sheriff’s deputies and jail medical workers charged in her brother’s demise, citing inadequate proof in opposition to the lads. The choice got here on what would have been Monk’s forty ninth birthday, leaving Elvira Monk feeling “bittersweet.”
“I really feel it’s improper — I really feel extra individuals ought to be charged, however blessed that anyone is being charged,” Elvira Monk advised this information group. “Greater than three individuals interacted with that man inside a specific amount of days for all of this to occur. However I can’t complain, as a result of a minimum of three persons are nonetheless being charged.”
“It’s been a tough combat,” she added. “However we’re nonetheless preventing, that’s the nice factor.”
The Alameda County District Legal professional’s Workplace declined to touch upon the event Wednesday.
Charged within the case have been Alameda County sheriff’s deputies Donall Rowe, Ross Burruel, Robinderpal Hayer, Andre Gaston, Syear Osmani, Mateusz Laszuk and Christopher Haendel. Former sheriff’s deputies Troy White and Thomas Mowrer additionally have been charged, as have been WellPath nurse David E. Donoho and Alameda County Behavioral Well being clinician Dr. Neal Edwards. All of them confronted a single felony rely of elder or dependent grownup abuse. White, Osmani and Hayer additionally have been charged with one felony rely of falsifying paperwork.
Monk, 45, was declared useless on Nov. 15, 2021, after languishing for days whereas he lay facedown in his Dublin jail cell, a pool of brown liquid oozing from beneath his physique. His household later sued Alameda County and obtained a $7 million settlement together with assurances that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Workplace would implement new coaching for its deputies.
Monk had been held in Santa Rita Jail on $2,500 bail on a misdemeanor cost of threatening a bus driver after an argument over whether or not Monk ought to put on a face masks on the bus, courtroom information present.
All through his month-long keep — and notably over the past a number of days of his life — jail safety footage and information confirmed deputies and jail workers doing little to look after Monk, resembling checking on his very important indicators or guaranteeing he obtained wanted medicines, based on his household’s lawsuit. Deputies repeatedly walked by him within the days earlier than he was declared useless, with some questioning aloud “is (Monk) awake? Is he alive?,” the lawsuit claimed.
Barely every week after the November 2024 election — within the span between when voters forged their ballots to recall Worth, and her final official day in early December — Worth made the bombshell announcement that she would cost 11 individuals in Monk’s demise.
It was not instantly clear which of the 11 defendants would stay charged within the case. Elvira Monk mentioned she had been advised that one of many individuals nonetheless going through prices had interacted with Monk a minimum of 40 instances within the lead-up to his demise.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking information reporter. Name, textual content or ship him an encrypted message by way of Sign at 510-390-2351, or e-mail him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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