Lawsuit against Chesapeake sheriff over death dismissed

By Kristin Davis
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 2, 2010

CHESAPEAKE

A federal judge has dismissed an $11 million lawsuit against Sheriff John Newhart in the July 2006 death of a jail inmate.

Sotina L. Cuffee, 36, suffered a heart attack while serving an eight-month sentence at the Chesapeake Correctional Center for welfare fraud.

Cuffee's estate accused the sheriff, jail staff and independent contractors of wrongful death, medical malpractice and negligence, saying Cuffee had complained of chest pains for more than two weeks before she died.

U.S. District Judge Jerome Friedman dismissed the claim in a letter dated Friday.

A trial had been scheduled to start today.

Friedman did not elaborate, writing that "a detailed opinion... will be prepared as expeditiously as possible."

According to the lawsuit, Cuffee should have been referred to a cardiologist or taken to an emergency room but was instead treated for gas the morning before her death. She lost consciousness July 17 and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A Chesapeake undersheriff said at the time of Cuffee's death that the inmate received CPR when she suffered chest pains, and emergency medical services were summoned.

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Pilot Never tells the Whole Story

Submitted by wk4city on Tue, 03/02/2010 at 5:22 pm.

The VP should have waited for all the facts. They didn't mention the part about the major screw up from the plaintiffs attorney. It's just another cheap shot at the Sheriff !

Wrongful Death

Submitted by e.rebus on Tue, 03/02/2010 at 12:57 pm.

The information dealing with the weeks leading up to her death are a bit lacking. Pity there was not more information so folks won't think she was just left to suffer before she died. By publishing such a story it just fulls the flames of those that think black people are still lynched in Virginia. The Federal judges reasoning will be very interesting.

Submitted by lamarr49480 on Tue, 03/02/2010 at 4:52 am.

It is not uncommon in Virginia to dismiss the detah of a Black person. It is a common practice to kill Black people and use the law to justify their untimely death as if they were not even human beings. But then again Blacks are still considered 3/5's of a huyman being. That is recorded in the U.S. Constitution and the Virginia Code of 1705.

lamarr

Submitted by desert_divine on Tue, 03/02/2010 at 4:32 pm.

And how do you justify the black-on-black crimes that result in the deaths of innocent black folks? One could use your same rationale on that...

As for the Constitution and the 3/5 ratio you mention, since slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment, the 3/5 ratio became moot as a result, as was Virginia Code 1705. The 14th Amendment serves to further solidify that. Additionally, the 3/5 ratio pertained to 3/5 of a state's entire slave population (not 3/5 of an individual - how would you determine that?) that would be counted for enumeration, tax, and apportionment purposes.