Looking for Answers

Sheriff, family at odds over inmate's death

By Greg Rohloff
Business Correspondent

Potter County Sheriff Ron Boyter contends that he should not be compelled to report to the family of jail inmate the circumstances of the inmate's death because Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley believes the inmate's family intends to sue.

Photo by Greg Rohloff

The sheriff's position is part of a reply to a petition filed in 47th District Court to compel Boyter to give a deposition to the attorneys for the family of Michael Dick, 33, who died July 19 after being in Potter County Jail for 10 days. A hearing for the family's petition and the county's reply will be on Oct. 24 at Potter County Courthouse.

The sheriff's reply and the autopsy report from Lubbock medical examiner Dr. Tom Beaver, who has been at the center of an investigation there into wrongdoing and lack of proper credentials. Questions about Dick's incarceration and care while in jail were discussed at a news conference Tuesday by attorneys Chris Hoffman and Jeff Blackburn, retained by Dick's family to help find out why their son stricken with peritonitis during his stay in Potter County Jail was not taken to a hospital for treatment.

"We know that he was beaten at some point in the Santa Fe Building when he was restrained," Blackburn said.

That incident occurred on July 9 when Dick allegedly acted in a threatening manner at the county adult probation office and he was arrested. Blackburn said Dick was taken to Northwest Texas Hospital for an examination of his injuries then and was returned to deputies and jailed.

Three days later, Dick's parents, Marvin and Diane Dick, visited him in jail and he suffered a seizure, Hoffman said. The Dicks were told that medical personnel were attending to him at the jail, Hoffman said, and when they returned on following days they were told that he was all right but did not want to see them.

An autopsy, delivered by fax to Hoffman's law office on Tuesday shortly before the news conference, described physical injuries suffered by Dick and concluded that he had died of peritonitis from a perforated duodenal ulcer, which Blackburn described as a hole in the intestinal wall.

A news release from Lt. Gary Trupe of the Amarillo Police Department's Special Crimes Unit said the autopsy report concluded that Dick's death was not caused by trauma.

But Hoffman and Blackburn contested that conclusion, saying at the news conference that the document does not conclusively say that a beating did not cause Dick to develop peritonitis.

That is why they are seeking to depose the sheriff and to review videotapes of the jail cameras and jail records that would show which deputies went to Dick's cell and whether he was receiving medication.

Blackburn said that no decision has been made if his clients would sue the county over their son's death.

Additionally, Blackburn and Hoffman have retained an independent medical examiner, Susanna Dana of Central Texas Autopsy, who has examined Dick's body. But Beaver did not provide Dana access to the tissue sample from Dick's duodenum, Hoffman said.

Potter County Justice of the Peace Debbie Horn has ruled that Dana should be able to examine a tissue sample from the ulcerated portion of the duodenum, which Hoffman said would indicate when the peritonitis developed.

Hoffman said he expected Dana would be able to examine the tissue sample anywhere between a few days from Tuesday or no more than a week.

Dick had been wanted for a probation violation charge for intoxicated assault with a motor vehicle when he was arrested at the county probation office.

The Amarillo Police Department news release said that the results of the Special Crime Unit's investigation will be turned over to the 47th District Attorney's office for presentation to a grand jury.

Blackburn, though, said he expected such a proceeding to simply end with a conclusion that nothing wrong had been done in the jail.

If nothing had been done wrong, Blackburn said, the county should be forthcoming with details about Dick's death rather than asking the court to deny a deposition from Boyter.

"What we have is government run by cover-up artists," Blackburn said.

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Posted: Oct. 9, 2008