SAVANNAH | A few hours after he went to jail on a domestic violence charge, 21-year-old Mathew Ajibade was found dead in a cell following a violent brawl with deputies that led to him being strapped into a chair wearing handcuffs and leg shackles.
Nine months later, two former sheriff's deputies and an ex-nurse at the jail are scheduled to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter and other criminal charges related to the young detainee's death. Jury selection was to begin Monday in Chatham County Superior Court.
Many details regarding how Ajibade died will be revealed for the first time in court. Legal documents filed in advance of the trial give an incomplete picture.
Prosecutors say Ajibade started a fight with deputies trying to book him following his arrest Jan. 1. He grabbed a Taser from one jailer and ended up bleeding on the floor after being punched and kicked by two others. No deputies were charged for the brawl. Authorities say Ajibade injured three jailers, including one who suffered a concussion and a broken nose.
"At this point, Ajibade's mouth is bleeding, and the blood smears on the floor," prosecutors said in one pre-trial document. "Ajibade is put in full restraints, cuffed behind his back and legs shackled, and taken to a cell to be put into a restraint chair."
Cpl. Jason Kenny was among jailers called in after the fight to place Ajibade in a cell. Prosecutors say Kenny shocked Ajibade with a Taser four times, though his hands and legs were restrained. Kenny was charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and cruelty to an inmate.
Former Cpl. Maxine Evans, a jail supervisor, and nurse Gregory Brown were also charged. Prosecutors say Evans and Brown failed to perform required medical checks on Ajibade despite his injuries. In addition to involuntary manslaughter charges, they are also accused of falsifying jail records to make it appear they had checked Ajibade's condition.
Kenny and Evans are also charged with perjury. Prosecutors say the two deputies lied to the grand jury that indicted them.
Involuntary manslaughter and perjury are each punishable by one to 10 years in prison in Georgia. The aggravated assault charge against Kenny carries a sentence of one to 20 years imprisonment.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys are likely to argue Ajibade was killed by blows from a fight he started, rather than by Taser jolts and neglect by jail workers responding to a chaotic brawl.
Bobby Phillips, Evans' defense attorney, said he plans to call as a witness Dr. Bill Wessinger, the Chatham County coroner, who listed "blunt force trauma" as the cause of death on Ajibade's death certificate.
Wessinger has said he based that on a phone conversation with the state medical examiner who oversaw Ajibade's autopsy. Prosecutor Christy Barker told a judge Wednesday the coroner's finding "directly conflicts with the actual autopsy report." The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not released the autopsy report, citing the unresolved criminal case.
Prosecutors say in a pre-trial document that, during the jailhouse fight, one deputy punched Ajibade twice in the face — knocking him to the floor. The Taser the detainee had grabbed lay beside his head.
A second deputy "kicks at the Taser twice, making contact with Ajibade's head," the prosecution document says. "The second kick dislodges the Taser, sending it across the floor."
Sheriff Al St. Lawrence fired eight deputies, including Kenny and Evans, in connection with Ajibade's death.
Savannah police arrested Ajibade on New Year's Day after a fight with his girlfriend. Attorneys for Ajibade's family in Hyattsville, Maryland, say he suffered from bipolar disorder and his girlfriend gave police a bottle of his prescription medication when they arrested him.