Victim’s Body Exhumed : Suspect Linked to 2nd Jail Medical Cell Death

Orange County prosecutors said Monday that a violence-prone inmate already suspected in a fatal jail cell strangulation also shared a cell with a man who died Jan. 17.

The Jan. 17 death of 71-year-old John Franklin Wilcox initially was attributed to acute emphysema. Concerned that Wilcox might have been the victim of foul play, authorities had his body exhumed last week in an effort to determine if he was murdered.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James G. Enright said the investigation into Wilcox’s death is being reopened because he shared a medical isolation cell with Jerry T. Pick. Pick, 23, also shared such a cell with Arthur G. Oviedo, 25, of Santa Fe Springs, who was found strangled on Jan. 31.

Medical isolation cells, with solid walls and a small window in the door, are not easily monitored, said an American Civil Liberties Union attorney handling a federal suit against Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates, who is in charge of the jail.

ACLU attorney Richard P. Herman referred to the cells as “death traps.” He said he filed a memo with the court last December stating that the jail’s 18 medical isolation cells were “obviously dangerous.”

Special Master Notified

Although the ACLU has sued Gates alleging overcrowding at the jail, Herman said he has brought the condition of the medical isolation cells to the attention of the special master who has been appointed to monitor jail conditions.

“In the Oviedo case,” Herman said, “you were putting someone in with a psychotic or violent history. You can’t leave people in there alone unobserved.”

Pick and Oviedo were the only two men in the cell at the time of Oviedo’s death. Enright said two other men were in the cell with Wilcox and Pick when Wilcox died.

Herman, who has inspected the jail’s medical ward, described it as a large room with cots and a glass-enclosed guard station located in the middle of the room. Inmates in the ward can be observed from the guard station, which has desks and a telephone.

By contrast, the isolation cells are completely enclosed and have small windows at eye level, he said.

“You would need a deputy for each cell to effectively monitor them,” Herman said.

Herman said he plans to recommend that use of the isolation cells be discontinued until they can be rebuilt and effectively monitored by jail deputies.

Fractured Ribs Discovered

In an autopsy following his death, Wilcox was found to have several fractured ribs, which initially were thought to have resulted from pressure applied by paramedics while conducting cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

After realizing that Pick, who is suspected in Oviedo’s death, had been in the cell with Wilcox, “our investigator looked at (reports of) the fractures, and we started to suspect the possibility of violence,” Enright said.

Wilcox’s body then was exhumed Thursday.

“We’re trying to clear up a possibility that Wilcox was assaulted and if the assault contributed to the death,” Enright said.

Medical examiners viewed injured tissue from Wilcox’s body, particularly the spleen, to determine whether the injuries occurred before CPR was administered, Enright said.

Results were not available Monday.

Pick, who is awaiting trial on a charge of attempted robbery, has since been moved to a single cell and is being housed alone, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.