Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - County fires attorney from jail death suit

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Thursday, October 5, 2000

County fires attorney from jail death suit
Supervisor says firing is not related to lawsuit settlement
By Jason Ma
Caller-Times
Assistant County Attorney Tyner Little, who represented the county in the Andrew Sokolinski wrongful death lawsuit, was terminated Monday.
   Little could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
   "I can't discuss personnel issues," County Attorney Laura Garza Jimenez said. "I have a responsibility as a department head. I have to make difficult decisions, and this was one of them."
   Jimenez said Little's termination did not have anything to do with the Sokolinski case, which resulted in the county having to pay $1.1 million in a settlement agreement with Sokolinski's family.
   Sokolinski died in Nueces County Jail in 1997, after he was pepper sprayed and put in a restraining chair.
   The county reached a settlement agreement on Aug. 9, paying $900,000 to his family and another $200,000 in attorneys' fees.
   Jimenez said there is no replacement for Little yet.
   The termination comes a week after another county employee connected with the jail was dismissed.
   On Sept. 25, Sheriff Larry Olivarez told Jerriel Duke, assistant chief deputy of the jail division, to take two weeks off for paid vacation until his official termination Oct. 9.
   Olivarez would only say at the time that he had lost confidence in Duke's ability to lead and manage the jail.
   The decision surprised Duke, who has said he has a clean record in his 16 years at the jail.
   Duke said he has no idea why he was suddenly terminated.
   Prior to heading the jail, Duke was a captain at the county's McKinzie Annex.
   Duke's termination came as the county faces another wrongful death lawsuit alleging that an inmate died while in custody at the jail.
   In August, the family of Bobby Stuart, 28, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and Olivarez.
   Police arrested Stuart on Aug. 18, 1999, on suspicion of public intoxication and criminal mischief.
   The next day, according to the lawsuit, he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and strapped to a restraining chair. He later died.


Staff writer Jason Ma can be reached at 886-3778 or by e-mail at maj@caller.com

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