OXNARD : Jury Rejects Lawsuit Over Jail Suicide

A jury rejected Tuesday a $750,000 claim against Oxnard and 14 police officials filed by the parents of a man who hanged himself in the city’s police lockup in 1985.

Manuela and Heriberto Martinez of Oxnard filed the suit eight months after the death of their son, Gerardo Martinez, 27, said David Doyle, who represented the city in the case.

Gerardo Martinez, who was arrested after escaping from Ventura County Jail two days earlier, was discovered hanging by his under shirt from the cell bars on Feb. 13, 1985. His last contact with police had been 15 minutes earlier, Doyle said.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for 3 1/2 hours after a three-week trial in Ventura County Superior Court, Doyle said.

Jurors unanimously cleared Police Chief Robert Owens and 13 police officers of any liability in the case.

But the jury split 9 to 3 on whether to clear the city, said Doyle, adding that some jurors felt that the city should have better methods to screen prisoners for mental problems. In a civil action, only nine votes are needed for a verdict.

The Martinezes initially filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in October, 1985, but that case was dismissed in early 1986, Doyle said.

In October, 1986, the Martinezes filed a new lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court, where Doyle said it “languished” for almost five years until the couple hired new lawyers, Michael Mitchell and Eric G. Ferrer of Los Angeles.

The Martinezes argued that the officers should have known their son was contemplating suicide and should have done something to stop it, said Gerardo Martinez’s brother Eddy Martinez, 36.

But the jury, Doyle said, found that the “police officers had acted in an extremely professional manner, and no one could have known or even suspected this fellow was contemplating suicide.”

The family plans to appeal the case, Eddy Martinez said.