Suspect Admits Kicking Cell Mate : Blows Figured in Jail Death, Autopsy Shows

Jerry Thomas Pick, an Orange County Jail inmate accused of killing two of his cell mates in separate incidents three months ago, admits kicking one of them, a 71-year-old man suffering from emphysema, Pick’s attorney said Tuesday.

But Pick’s attorney, Milton C. Grimes, claims that Pick kicked the elderly man on the shins and that the blow did not contribute to the man’s death. Grimes’ comments came after the first day of a preliminary hearing in Santa Ana for the 25-year-old transient.

Pick faces a possible sentence of life without parole if convicted of murder in the deaths of 71-year-old John Franklin Wilcox, who died on Jan 17, 1987, and Arthur Oviedo, 25, who was strangled to death two weeks later.

Grimes said later that Pick and a third cell mate, Richard Thomas, were arguing with Wilcox because the elderly man was spitting mucous in the cell because of his emphysema.

“Jerry did kick him, but only in the shins,” Grimes said. “He did not cause the old man to die.”

Both incidents occurred on the second floor medical ward at the jail.

Natural Causes Blamed

Wilcox’s death was originally listed as natural causes. But authorities learned that Pick had been a cell mate to both men, and Wilcox’s body was ordered exhumed. Prosecutors now say Wilcox was beaten to death.

Dr. Robert D. Lawrence, a Stockton forensic pathologist who performed the first autopsy on Wilcox, testified Tuesday that his new conclusion is that Wilcox died from a combination of emphysema, bronchial pneumonia and blunt force to his ribs.

“This man was very sick and in the process of dying,” Lawrence said. “But the fractures to the ribs were the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Lawrence said the man’s injuries came anywhere from three to 10 hours before his death.

Grimes questioned Lawrence for more than an hour over the pathologist’s decision to change his mind about the cause of death.

Lawrence originally said Wilcox appeared to have died from a combination of emphysema and bronchial pneumonia. Lawrence noted many injuries but attributed them to paramedics’ attempting to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

But Lawrence said he changed his mind after reviewing a report with Dr. Robert Richards, who conducted the second autopsy on Wilcox, and reviewing several microscopic slides of rib damage Richards brought to his attention.

Lawrence said the paramedics did contribute to some of the injuries, but not the injuries that led to the man’s death.

Prosecutors also introduced medical evidence Tuesday that Oviedo had died of strangulation and that his death could not have been a suicide.

Grimes said later that Pick says he doesn’t know what happened to Oviedo. Grimes said Pick was not strong enough to have strangled Oviedo.

In the Wilcox death, prosecutors expect the third cell mate, Thomas, to testify today that he saw Pick kicking at Wilcox. But Grimes says Thomas won’t be able to say he actually saw any blows by Pick land on the elderly man.

The preliminary hearing before Central Municipal Judge James M. Brooks is scheduled to last five days. The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to order a defendant to stand trial.

Grimes said that Pick suffers mental impairment from a 1981 automobile accident but that his mental illness is not so severe that he can’t stand trial on the charges.

Pick was in jail on an attempted robbery charge at the time of the deaths.

Sheriff Brad Gates has ordered an internal investigation into the two deaths and whether any jail officials had done anything wrong in housing Pick with the other two men.

Oviedo’s family has also asked the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate the deaths.