Woman Asks $500,000 in Son’s Death at County Jail

An Anaheim woman has filed a $500,000 wrongful death claim against the county, alleging that officials at the Orange County Jail failed to give her son proper medical and psychiatric care before he slashed himself to death with a jail-issued razor.

Twana Nadine Marderos filed the claim in connection with the Nov. 6 death of her son, John Ray Stephenson, whose apparent suicide has prompted a grand jury investigation and an inquiry into possible conflicts within the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Department.

The claim must be filed before the family can file a wrongful death lawsuit. The Stephenson family said it expects the claim to be denied and plans then to file such a suit.

History of Illness Cited

The claim alleges that the Sheriff’s Department and the county Health Care Agency “failed to give proper medical care to . . . (Stephenson) despite his lengthy history of mental illness and prior suicide attempts. He apparently took his own life with a razor left in his possession.”

Stephenson had been in two mental institutions, including Atascadero State Hospital, before being transferred to the Orange County Jail in mid-1984 to stand trial for the 1978 abduction and murder of a Fullerton girl.

He had attempted suicide at least once while in the jail and had been treated by jail psychiatrists, though he was not under special medical supervision when he was found bleeding to death in his cell. He had been removed from his mood-stabilizing medication at his own request, according to Sheriff Brad Gates.

Claims Usually Denied

Gates was not available for comment Wednesday on the claim, which was filed with the clerk of the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 15. While it has been referred to risk management officials, such claims are routinely denied and the issues are resolved in court or through county attorneys. Under state law the family must file a wrongful death suit within six months of the denial of a claim.

Walter Zech, Marderos’ attorney, said jail officials failed to adequately supervise Stephenson, though he was a known suicide risk. “He was a prime candidate for suicide, and they let it happen,” he said.

“I think everybody would have to agree from his background that he was seriously mentally ill. His criminal defense attorney thought he was totally out of touch with reality when he was talking with him. To take a man that’s that mentally ill, and to take him out of medical isolation, to put him away from that constant supervision, to give him access to a razor blade, knowing that he’s mentally ill, seems like you’re not treating a man for an obvious illness,” Zech said.

Stephenson’s death touched off a conflict between the Sheriff-Coroner Department and the Health Care Agency when health officials refused to turn over the inmate’s psychiatric files to Gates for his review as coroner in determining an official cause of death.

Gates eventually went to court and won access to the records, but Zech said Marderos has been unsuccessful in obtaining them.

“If the sheriff can have them, why can’t she?” he said.

A fundamental part of the case is Marderos’ unanswered questions about her son, Zech added. “Is he a criminal, or is he sick? If somebody tells me he’s no good, I’ll say, how do you know he’s no good? How do you know he’s just not sick?.