Inmate’s survivors to receive $750,000

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay $750,000 to the family of a county inmate whose bruised and battered body was found hanging from a noose in his cell, officials confirmed Friday.

Ramon Gavira’s death July 11, 2002, was ruled a suicide by the coroner, but attorneys for the man’s family argued that jail personnel with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were to blame.

Supervisors approved the settlement during a closed-door session last month, but county officials had refused to confirm the amount until the agreement was finalized.

The decision to settle was made after supervisors were presented with a confidential report by the sheriff’s Office of Independent Review, which was critical of the department’s investigation into the death.

The report, a copy of which was reviewed by The Times, said flawed investigations in the immediate aftermath of Gavira’s death left many unanswered questions.

“The failure of the LASD to thoroughly investigate some of [the] allegations at the time of the death has created a factual deficit,” the report stated. “It is that shortcoming that is most troublesome.”

William McSweeney, a chief with the Sheriff’s Department, said he and other officials were disappointed by the decision to settle the case.

“We think it should have gone to trial. We believe the weakness in [the plaintiff’s] theory would have been apparent to the jury,” he said.

McSweeney said he was not surprised that a review of the investigation -- done with benefit of hindsight -- had identified perceived shortcomings in the way the matter was handled.

“When every aspect of an investigation is put under a microscope,” he said, “you will always find flaws.”

According to court records, Gavira suffered six broken ribs, a broken clavicle and bruises from head to toe during his six-day stay in jail for suspicion of drunk driving. Several inmates testified under oath that the 43-year-old father of five was tormented and physically abused by a female deputy who trained as a boxer.

As part of the family’s wrongful-death lawsuit, attorneys submitted a declaration from a medical expert who contended that a broken bone in Gavira’s neck indicated manual strangulation, not hanging. That expert concluded Gavira died at the hands of another.

County lawyers have denied that deputies were in any way responsible for Gavira’s death. The case had been expected to go to trial earlier this year.

The Times published a report last year documenting shortcomings in the investigation into Gavira’s death. Afterward, Supervisor Gloria Molina asked Michael Gennaco, head of the Office of Independent Review, to look into the case.

Gavira was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving July 6, 2002. During a medical screening at the jail’s inmate reception center, he was found to be depressed, diabetic and suffering from alcohol withdrawal.

A social worker recommended he be housed with other sick inmates in a so-called pill module so he could receive treatment and have his blood sugar checked each morning.

But Gavira never made it to the pill module, which, unbeknownst to the social worker, had been closed by officials. After complaining to a guard that he was afraid of being assaulted by inmates, Gavira was placed in a single-man cell in the disciplinary module, known as “the hole.”

Once there, jail records and interviews show, he never received his medication. Over the next several days, Gavira appeared scared and confused. He cried at night, muttering that he wanted to go home and was slow to respond to orders.

Two inmates said they watched as a female guard, identified in court papers as Anel Manriquez, taunted and abused Gavira. The deputy declined to comment, but jail officials strongly denied the charge. Gavira was found unconscious in his cell -- with a torn bedsheet tied tightly around his neck -- just hours before he was to be released. Attempts to revive him with CPR, which sheriff’s officials say could have resulted in broken ribs, were unsuccessful.

After a 10-month investigation, Gennaco concluded that the weight of the evidence “strongly suggests” that Gavira had killed himself and that there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had been assaulted by any deputies.

Those and other issues could not be dealt with definitively because the case was not thoroughly investigated by homicide and internal-affairs detectives, according to the report, prepared by Gennaco and three other attorneys.

For example, because homicide detectives immediately concluded that Gavira had taken his own life, little effort was made to determine how he sustained such serious injuries while in custody.

“Was Mr. Gavira beaten by inmates ... ? Was he abused during his trips to court ... ? Or was he subjected to inappropriate force by deputies ... ?” the report asks rhetorically. “The department’s inquiry was not sufficiently scoped or focused to definitively resolve these issues.”

Gennaco was also critical of the department’s failure to give Gavira prescribed medications for alcohol withdrawal and diabetes.

Since Gavira’s death, the report said, sheriff’s officials have implemented reforms to improve both the delivery of medications and the quality of investigations of incidents in which inmates are hurt or killed. “The review of Mr. Gavira’s case demonstrates the lessons that can be learned from a critical event such as this,” Gennaco wrote.

Gennaco declined to be interviewed about the report, saying he considered the document confidential.

Antonio Rodriguez, one of the Gavira family’s attorneys, said the settlement helped “achieve some closure.”

“But no matter what the amount of money is, nothing replaces the loss of a loved one,” he said. “The Sheriff’s Department, and the jail in general, still rot with elements of cruelty, torture and inhumane treatment of inmates. Mr. Gavira deserved some compassion and care, but he got the opposite.”

*

matt.lait@latimes.com

scott.glover@latimes.com