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| Beaten inmate drops lawsuit |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/15/2004 |
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A Florida prison inmate who sued officers and prison officials after his jaw was broken while he was housed in a disciplinary unit at Florida State Prison is dropping his case, his attorney said March 3. Willie Mathews sued Corrections Secretary James Crosby, Capt. Tim Giebeig and 11 corrections officers in federal court in Jacksonville in November 1999 alleging his civil rights were violated when officers broke his jaw and he went days without receiving any medical treatment. His attorney, Guy Rubin of Stuart, says the case, which was scheduled to go to trial next week, is being voluntarily dismissed because of financial considerations and a decision by U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan to drop Crosby and Giebeig from the case. An appeal of Corrigan's ruling will still be filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Mathews, 30, had a metal plate embedded in his face after surgery for a shattered jaw. He claimed corrections officers either participated or witnessed his beating on X wing, the disciplinary unit. The lawsuit alleged that then-warden Crosby, other prison officials and medical personnel were part of a conspiracy to cover up the officers' actions. Sterling Ivey, a Department of Corrections spokesman, declined to comment, saying he had not seen a copy of the dismissal. The decision to drop the case showed it was ''completely meritless,'' said Daytona Beach attorney Aaron Wolfe, who represented seven of the officers. ''A majority of my clients were not working at the dates and places during the time Mathews said he was assaulted,'' Wolfe said. Mathews is serving a 10-year sentence for battery on a law enforcement officer. He had also been jailed on drug charges. |
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