SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - A California federal judge won't hold the state's Department of Corrections liable for the death of a 37-year-old inmate who was stomped to death.
Judge John Mendez on May 5 granted the motion to dismiss of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in the case of Kenneth Sumner, who was killed by cell mate Okalani Latu in July 2021 in the substance abuse treatment facility at Corcoran State Prison, according to the second amended complaint.
Latu was serving a 38 years-to-life sentence for shooting a friend in the face. A CDCR officer her loud knocking noises and saw blood coming from the bottom of the cell, and Sumner was found on the floor in cardiac arrest.
Ultimately, he was placed on life support and died five days later. The lawsuit by his estate and his child said he was hit with such force that the assaulter's boot print remained visible on his face for days after the assault.
They also alleged they were never told the cause of Sumner's death and that the CDCR failed to monitor his safety. Prisoners were also prohibited from wearing or keeping boots, they said.
CDCR said the Eleventh Amendment provided it immunity from suit in federal court and that nothing in the complaint alleged the responding officers acted negligently.
CDCR's motion to dismiss said it could only be sued if California waived its sovereign immunity, which it did not. Mendez agreed in a six-page decision.
"CDCR did not waive, nor has Congress abrogated, its immunity under the Eleventh Amendment," he wrote. "In turn, the Eleventh Amendment unequivocally precludes Plaintiffs' claims against CDCR.
"The Court therefore finds Plaintiffs failed to state a plausible cause of action against CDCR and dismisses their claims accordingly."