Court Error – Abuse of Discretion

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Reginald Pittman, by his guardian Robin M. Hamilton, v. County of Madison, Illinois, et al.

Case No.: 16-3291

Officials: POSNER, MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Court Error – Abuse of Discretion

On the night of December 19, 2007, Reginald Pittman, a pretrial detainee in the Madison County, Illinois, jail, hanged himself from the bars of his cell (of which he was the only occupant) with a blanket. He did not die, but he sustained brain damage that has left him in a vegetative state, cared for entirely by his mother with no government benefits. This suit, brought on his behalf, charges deliberate indifference by guards and other jail staff to the risk of his attempting suicide, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The key witness for Pittman was a man named Bradley Banovz (pronounced “Banoviz”), who occupied a cell adjacent to Pittman’s when Pittman hanged himself. He testified at the trial that in the five days preceding Pittman’s suicide attempt Eaton and Werner had ignored Pittman’s requests to see members of the jail’s crisis staff.

Some three hours after the suicide attempt a county detective obtained, in an interview room in the jail, a 25-minute interview with Banovz about the attempt, which was captured on video. Pittman’s lawyer attempted to introduce the video at the trial, for while Banovz testified at the trial, that was seven years after the suicide attempt and video inter- view; and while he’d been lucid and articulate in the video interview he was a terrible witness at the trial, with poor recollection, an alternately hostile and flippant demeanor, and an inability to counter evidence of his criminal record harped on by defense counsel.

The district judge brushed aside all the reasons why the video should have been allowed in evidence, and excluded it without giving any reason why it should be excluded. Having for the reasons stated no assurance that Pittman’s claim was fairly tried, we hereby vacate the judgment and remand the case for a retrial conducted in conformity with the analysis in this opinion.

Vacated and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.