Inmate’s Death Is Ruled a Homicide

In an ominous finding for the Sheriff’s Department, the county coroner’s office has ruled that the death of jail inmate Danny Smith was a homicide, a Los Angeles County coroner’s official said Friday.

Smith died of a heart attack “brought on by the struggle” with deputies at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, said Anthony Hernandez, director of the coroner’s office.

The Aug. 1 death was listed as a homicide because of one of the contributing factors, “probable positional asphyxia,” a coroner’s statement said.

“We can only surmise . . . that the incident involved the deputy sheriffs moving him to the ground . . . in order to get him into the jail cell,” Hernandez said at a news conference. “At this particular point in time, he may have had the heart attack, or may have not, I’m not sure.

“But at some point in time there was a cutoff of oxygen to the brain, and that’s where we come up with the determination of positional asphyxiation,” he said.

The immediate cause of Smith’s death was attributed to “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,” a preexisting heart condition associated with an enlarged heart, hardened heart muscles and high blood pressure, Hernandez said.

Although Smith sustained several wounds on his head and others on the back of his body, they were deemed inconsequential to his death, Hernandez said. There was no medical evidence that Smith had been “choked out” by a flashlight or any other object, the statement said.

“A mode of ‘homicide’ does not necessarily translate into a finding of ‘murder’ where malice and forethought are present,” the coroner’s statement said. “For this purpose, homicide means death occurred at the hands of another.”

Inmates said Smith died in handcuffs during a vicious beating by deputies who held a flashlight across his throat and ignored his protests that he couldn’t breathe and had a bad heart. The inmates said deputies were irritated when Smith, who was black, would not enter a cell with a Latino.

The Sheriff’s Department initially said Smith attacked a deputy when his handcuffs were removed, but later admitted that he was handcuffed during the incident.

Leo Terrell, the attorney for Smith’s family, said the coroner’s finding will reinforce the $65-million civil complaint he has filed against the Sheriff’s Department on the family’s behalf.

“This strengthens the case immensely,” Terrell said. “No matter what degree it was, this was a homicide. And it proves that before he died, he was beaten, and this man suffered.”

But in a statement read by a spokesman, Sheriff Sherman Block said the findings show that deputies did not use excessive force.

“The coroner’s findings . . . clearly refute the statements of inmates who allege that Mr. Smith was brutally assaulted by deputy sheriffs,” Block said. “Limited force was used but was not a contributing factor in his death. The primary cause of Mr. Smith’s death was a heart attack.”

In 1997, the latest year for which figures are available, the Sheriff’s Department paid $5.5 million in settlements for police misconduct cases, according to Merrick Bobb, who monitors the progress of reforms in the Sheriff’s Department. Four of the costliest settlements--costing a total of $2.1 million--involved excessive force, Bobb said.

The judgment on Smith’s death came as the Justice Department began to investigate reports that rogue deputies created a “posse” to “discipline” unruly inmates at Twin Towers, reportedly employing special codes so deputies on different floors could quickly join forces.

Justice Department investigators will look at whether any deputies have “illegitimate motives”--such as shared racial prejudices against black or Latino prisoners, a federal law enforcement official said.

“If there’s evidence that this posse has racial motivations, that would suggest any force being used is illegitimate,” the official said.

Top Sheriff’s Department officials said they are investigating whether the alleged posse was involved in the Aug. 10 beating of another man whom they did not identify. That victim had flashlight

marks on his back and boot prints on the sides of his body.

But the officials said the death of Smith, who suffered from mental illness and was prescribed anti-psychotic medication, was not linked to any deputies allegedly involved in the Aug. 10 beating.

However, two department insiders say at least one deputy was involved in both incidents. One deputy said Smith was “set up” by deputies because he “mouthed off.”

The Sheriff’s Department has moved two deputies and a custody assistant who were allegedly involved in the Smith incident to jobs where they are not directly supervising prisoners, department spokesmen say.

The Justice Department probe is part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of abuse at Twin Towers, the officials said.

The Justice Department has also asked the FBI to investigate a complaint by a Gardena grocer, Rafael Navarro, that he was beaten in his market Sept. 3 by two sheriff’s deputies from the Lennox station after Navarro exchanged insults with a deputy who he said had addressed him with a racial slur.

Sheriff’s Department spokesmen say the deputies entered the store after Navarro made a “terrorist threat” on the life of the deputy in the parking lot.