The mother of a 23-yearold Pulaski County jail inmate who killed himself is suing the county and Sheriff Doc Holladay, alleging wrongful death.
Maria Renie Carter, 41, of Maumelle filed the suit Monday, just before the second anniversary of the Feb. 9, 2010, death of David Brock Sharp.
Court records show that Sharp had been arrested the day before his death on a probation-revocation warrant for a February 2009 misdemeanor theft conviction. Sharp’s death certificate lists pneumonia and hanging as the cause of death.
According to the lawsuit filed by attorney Jason Earley, jailers denied Sharp methadone that had been prescribed to him for a “serious medical condition,” despite being informed about his needs by Sharp’s wife.
Sharp suffered a seizure in jail, which could have been caused by his being denied methadone, and later committed suicide in the jail, according to the nine-page complaint, which seeks punitive and compensatory damages.
In April 2007, Sharp was a witness whose testimony helped prosecutors win a capital-murder conviction and life sentence for Martinous Olyn Moore, 26, of Emerson, one of three men convicted for the April 2006 abduction and slaying of Brady Alexander, 18, the son of former Pulaski County Circuit Clerk Jacque Alexander. Sharp had shared a jail cell with Moore and testified that Moore had confessed to him that he had shot the victim.
The lawsuit, before Circuit Judge Tim Fox, claims jailers acted with deliberate indifference to Sharp’s condition because of a lack of training and a practice of failing to give inmates necessary medications.
Jailers failed to properly screen Sharp as a suicide risk and get him appropriate medical attention, according to the suit.
Defendants in the suit include County Judge Buddy Villines; Quorum Court members in 2010, Doug Reed, Tyler Denton, Kathy Lewison, Julie Blackwood, Lillie McMullen, Donna Massey, Teresa Coney, Curtis Keith, WIlma Walker, Robert Green, Bob Johnson, Karilyn Brown, Phil Stowers, Paul Elliot and Shane Stacks; jail administrator Randy Morgan; jail health services administrator Sarah Speer; mental health coordinator Carol McGee; and other jail officials, Matthew Briggs, Kirk Knight, Vivalon Nelson and Irene Hall.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/08/2013