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| Jailer reaches plea agreement in '02 death of diabetic inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/09/2005 |
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A Cherokee County (N.C.) jailer charged with involuntary manslaughter after a diabetic inmate died in her care three years ago has reached a plea agreement that will keep her out of prison, lawyers said last Wednesday. Judith Mason, 47, had been scheduled to go to trial last in Cherokee Superior Court in Murphy, near the western tip of North Carolina. Last Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges but did not admit actual guilt - what is known as an Alford plea. Mason was in charge of the Cherokee County Jail on Sept. 5, 2002, when inmate Lee Wood, 26, collapsed and died. Wood had been sick for at least a day, and the head of the county emergency medical service had asked Mason to transport the inmate to a hospital. On Sept. 5, a district judge ordered that Wood be transferred to the N.C. Department of Corrections for safekeeping. Wood died before the order was carried out. Mason, who was heard threatening to have Wood's relatives arrested in a 911 transcript, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and failing to provide medical care, a misdemeanor. She pleaded to the latter charge as well as a new charge of failing to discharge her duty as a public official, also a misdemeanor. Mason has severe heart problems that motivated her to avoid a trial, lawyer Jerry Townson said last Wednesday from Murphy. |
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