$50 Million Sought : Murderer Sues Sheriff Over Alleged Beating

Ivan Von Staich, a convicted killer and Orange County Jail escapee who was caught in Massachusetts last year after a month of freedom, sued Sheriff Brad Gates and several deputies Tuesday, claiming that he was severely beaten in a court holding cell during his 1985 murder trial.

Staich, 30, from Lake Elsinore, claims that five deputies “kicked, punched and smashed (me) headfirst into the concrete floor of the cell.” Staich said that his hair was ripped from his head and that the deputies ignored his pleas to stop beating him. He also says he had done nothing to provoke the attack.

The Sheriff’s Department has refused to discuss the alleged incident.

Staich, who is still awaiting trial on the escape charges, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend’s husband and severely beating her with a claw hammer.

Staich says the beating by the deputies occurred Oct. 29, 1985, during the early stages of his trial. On that date, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald granted a one-day delay in the trial because of bruises on Staich. However, the judge said he did not know what caused the bruises.

Staich and another inmate, Robert J. Clark, 23, of Palm Springs, escaped from the jail on Jan. 26, 1986, by overpowering a jail deputy and using electrical wire and blankets to climb from a roof recreation area four stories to the ground.

Clark was caught at a Tustin motel five days later. Staich was caught loitering in Springfield, Mass., on Feb. 22, 1986.

Staich filed the lawsuit without an attorney in Orange County Superior Court, listing his address as the Orange County Jail. He is seeking $50 million in damages.