MOBILE, AL - A federal judge in Mobile ruled in favor of Mobile County and former Sheriff Jack Tillman, who were accused in a lawsuit of denying medical care to a jail inmate who died in 2003.

The father of James Ellis "Jamie" Weaver sued last year, claiming Mobile County Metro Jail staffers and James Bonding Co. violated his constitutional rights.

Weaver died following surgery in August 2003, a week after staffers took him to the hospital. Weaver's trip to the hospital came five days after bounty hunters delivered him to the jail on a bail-jumping charge.

But U.S. District Judge William Steele determined that jail staffers had no way of knowing that Weaver, 31, was suffering from a serious medical condition because the inmate did not ask to see a doctor and told jail personnel that he had no special medical problems.

"The Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference test does not transform jailers into mind readers or medical experts," Steele wrote in a 25-page order handed down late Monday. "It does not compel jailers to second-guess an inmate's refusal to accept medical treatment where no serious medical need is known or evident to them."

Steele's ruling leaves James Bonding Co. as the only remaining defendant, but the judge suggested in the order that the case might be more appropriately tried in state court.

Jeffrey Bennitt, a Birmingham lawyer who represents Louis Weaver, the father, declined through a secretary to comment on Steele's ruling.
Defense lawyers expressed satisfaction.

"I think the judge's order made clear that Mobile County has no liability for Mr. Weaver's death. We're certainly pleased the judge ruled that way," said Thomas Gaillard, the county's attorney. "That was what we were hoping for and expecting, based on the evidence."

Paul Carbo, who represented Tillman, said, "We think it was a good ruling. We thought it was justified. The jail staff did everything they could for him. Unfortunately, he had some serious medical problems."

According to testimony offered in written motions, Weaver had cuts and bruises on his face when he was booked into the jail on Aug. 4, 2003. The plaintiffs contended that was from a beating he took at the hands of the bounty hunters who apprehended him.

An affidavit from a doctor who treated him at the hospital stated that Weaver suffered from serious medical conditions. He had hepatitis C and a staph infection and septic condition, meaning his entire body was infected, according to the affidavit.