Why a judge sided with officers in this excessive force prison lawsuit

A New Castle County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of a group of Delaware prison officers in a trial that saw them accused of using unnecessary force.

The defendants, a group of current and former officers at Sussex Correctional Institution, were accused of battery in a long-running lawsuit claiming they unnecessarily sprayed and pummeled plaintiff Jonatan Rodriguez in Jan. 2018.

Rodriguez claims they conspired to use that force because, at the time, he was accused of participating in the 2017 uprising at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center's C Building, in which prisoners used force to hold officers and a counselor hostage as a protest of Delaware’s prison conditions. An officer was killed during the subsequent 18-hour standoff.

Rodriguez was one of 16 men indicted on charges including riot and murder in the months after that riot. He was housed at Sussex Correctional Institution awaiting trial when the incident that led to the lawsuit occurred in 2018. Charges against him and several other defendants accused of the C Building uprising were dropped in 2019.

He sued after the incident in Sussex Correctional Institution, claiming officers used excessive force and attacked him because at the time he stood accused of murdering a correctional officer.

The incident occurred after he refused to lock into his cell. It was his job to clean the tier and after that task was his designated time to take a shower. He claimed he was trying to speak to officers about that.

Video of the incident shows officers rushing in on Rodriguez with pepper spray, him throwing punches and eventually officers piling onto him on the ground. Once on the ground, the brawl is partially obscured as there is only one camera angle of the incident despite other cameras visible on the tier.

In June, Superior Court Judge Francis Jones viewed the video and heard testimony from the officers involved, Rodriguez and an expert witness called by the defense to discuss officers’ use of force training. The case was heard by a judge instead of a jury upon Rodriguez's request.

Jones issued his ruling last week, finding that the incident did not constitute civil battery or conspiracy under Delaware law.

Editor's Note: Read the judge's ruling at the bottom of this story. Video depicting the use of force is posted at the top of this story.

The judge's reasoning

To win, Rodriguez had to convince the judge that the officers were not justified in their use of force and their force was unreasonable. State employees are also granted broad immunity in civil litigation so he also must show that their conduct was done in bad faith, wanton negligence or outside the scope of their official duties.

In his ruling, Jones said he found persuasive the defendant’s expert witness that opined Rodriguez could have been labeled a resister – and procedurally fit for pepper spraying − under the department’s use of force model.

Then, once he began throwing punches at the first officers, he became an assailant under that use of force model, justifying officers’ blows to him while he was on the ground, Jones wrote.

The crux of Rodriguez’s legal argument was that officers' force was unreasonable and didn’t comply with policy because there were a number of ways they could have handled the situation without resorting to force.

Jones found these arguments unpersuasive, according to the ruling.

Rodriguez argued officers could have let him take his shower, as was his routine. Jones opined this could have put them in a future position of having to acquiesce to similar requests and thus create chaos in the prison.

Rodriguez argued that officers could have called a ranking officer, who Rodriguez said would have known his routine and that contacting such an officer was the purpose of him not locking into his cell. Jones said a senior officer was notified before officers mustered their use of force.

Previous story: Man once charged in Delaware prison riot says officers needlessly beat him, takes case to trial

Rodriguez also argued that officers could have simply asked him to stick his hands through the door so they could cuff him, as is routine. Jones opined that Rodriguez had already ignored warnings to lock into his cell so it was unlikely such an order to cuff up would be heeded.

The ruling ends the lawsuit in favor of the officer defendants.

In a written statement sent through a spokesperson, Department of Correction Commissioner Terra Taylor said the ruling underscores the officers' "effective implementation of policies" and that the case outcome "provides further recognition" that officers work in "dangerous" environments and display "professionalism and bravery" under threat of harm.

In a text message, Herb Mondros, Rodriguez's attorney, said he and his client are "disappointed" with the result but gratified he could tell his story.

"We maintain the video speaks for itself," Mondros said.

Rodriguez’s claims against the officers parallel a raft of other complaints of excessive force currently being litigated in federal court: that officers are given too much freedom to escalate non-threatening situations with pepper spray and violence.

The American Civil Liberties Union Delaware Chapter is currently pursuing excessive force claims on behalf of some three dozen current or former SCI prisoners.

There are also still ongoing lawsuits filed by both former C Building defendants, as well as men who were never accused of riot participation, but said they were beaten and subjected to psychological torture in the days and weeks after.

The lawsuit was dismissed by a Delaware District Court judge two years ago, but reinstated by an appeals court panel of judges and continues to be argued.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why a judge sided with officers in this excessive force prison lawsuit