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Family: Charges should be manslaughter
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Related Topics: Carroll County
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Felicia Wilson, center, and her daughter, Danielle Carter, the family of Isaiah Simmons III, sit with their lawyer Steven Heisler recently during a hearing in Annapolis. The family says misdemeanor charges filed in connection with Simmons' death are too light.
Carroll County (Map, News) - Justice has not been served. That’s what the family of Isaiah Simmons III, 17, of Baltimore, said when it learned Tuesday that a Carroll Circuit grand jury indicted six employees of a Carroll juvenile facility on charges of reckless endangerment.
“We feel it’s manslaughter,” said Danielle Carter, a sister of Simmons, who died Jan. 23 after staff members at Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Keymar restrained him for hours after an outburst. “Based on the fact that my brother is no longer here, that’s manslaughter.”
Six staff members — five from Maryland and one from Pennsylvania — face up to five years of incarceration and a $5,000 fine for reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.
School staff failed to call 911 until 41 minutes after Simmons passed out and continued restraining him “on and off,” Carroll County State’s Attorney Jerry Barnes said.
“They thought he was faking,” Barnes said.
Steven Heisler, a lawyer for the Simmons family, said they were pleading with Barnes to charge the staffers with manslaughter — a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
“Obviously, we are outraged that 41 minutes would elapse,” Heisler said. “There was utter confusion. Something was going on. Something broke down.”
Restraining juvenile offenders was common at Bowling Brook for several years, said Detective Doug Epperson from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.
The grand jury’s acknowledgment that the school staff was responsible for Simmons’ death shows that staffers neglected to save Simmons, resulting in death — the very definition of manslaughter, Simmons’ family and their lawyer said.
“This is textbook manslaughter,” Heisler said.
If the employees don’t turn themselves in soon, Barnes said, sheriff’s deputies will arrest them.
The FBI continues its own investigation into Simmons’ death, which led to Bowling Brook’s closure last month and to reforms in the training of staff at juvenile facilities across the state.
Those under indictment are:
Michael Paul Corradi, 31, Middleton
Jason Willie Robinson, 25, Westminster
Mark Richard Sainato, 36, Keymar
Brian Gerard Kanavy, 31, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Dennis Harding, 31, Baltimore
Shadi Sabbagh, 33, Keymar
kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:36 AM MST on Mon., Jun. 30, 2008 re: "O’Malley, team defend sale of former troubled youth facility"
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9:03 AM MST on Fri., Jun. 27, 2008
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5:02 AM MST on Fri., Jun. 27, 2008
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2:13 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 26, 2008
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12:10 AM MST on Thu., Jun. 26, 2008
re: "State eyes selling Bowling Brook to Nevada-based Rite of Passage"
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10:06 AM MST on Tue., May. 20, 2008
re: "Family of teen killed at Bowling Brook files $207M suit"
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3:33 PM MST on Fri., May. 16, 2008
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5:57 AM MST on Fri., May. 16, 2008
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9:55 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 4, 2008
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7:07 AM MST on Fri., Jan. 4, 2008
re: "Counselors want charges dismissed"
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7:29 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 2, 2008
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5:50 PM MST on Wed., Jan. 2, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
Follow the money. O'Malley is dirty.
2 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Owe'Malley is a liar. He lies about helping working families, he lies about lowering BG&E and he lied about stopping the LNG plant.
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Examiner Reader said:
No kidding. O'Malley defends his heartless, corrupt, decision.
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johnn said:
remember thease words there coming to get you martin,and soon !and all your flunkys,shelia,shawn malone,miller,and bush
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Examiner Reader said:
hey, martha! get me rewrite (and no-doz)! At today’s Board of Public Works meeting, the state is proposing to sell the former Bowling Brook juvenile facility where a youth died in custody this past year to a Nevada-based group that runs juvenile facilities
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Examiner Reader said:
this is so stupid. they just want to get rich, there have been other cases but the money being asked for is around 25 million. this is the most amount of mony i have ever seen being asked for over a death in school. if they win this money then it's like they win the lottery. that money could be put to better use than to molify the parents loss.
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Examiner Reader said:
“They stole possibilities. They stole opportunities. They stole his life.” Darn, they stole the chance for him to be released and commit more of the same crimes that put him there. Boo Hoo
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Examiner Reader said:
Can we get a little background on the teen? This story is light on details, we need more before forming an opinion. I'm assuming that they didn't just start restraining him for no reason.
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Examiner Reader said:
suing for 1 million for each minute their son suffered? That's so lame, they're just trying to get rich. Losers, they raised the child baldy and expect to get paid for it? No way, they don't deserve that much money.
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Examiner Reader said:
This is a well know peer from the school and I think that they should be charged for killing that boy because they dont listen to people when they say that the stuff that they be doing hurt really bad.It hurt so bad that you feel like your dead,and also they ceature the problem just so they can put you throw that kind of pain.So with that being said I think that they should get atleast 25 to 50 years a peace.But I can say this MR.Dennis was a good person and he would not try to hurt anyone.Thank you for your time.(P.S DO THE RIGHT THING AND PUT THEM AWAY)
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Independent Marylander said:
The "court of public opinion" is a little short on facts. The Grand Jury indicted based on the facts presented after the investigation of the incident. Soon there will be a trial to determine whether the facts merit a finding of guilt or acquittal. The standard for guilt is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and to a moral certainty." Anything short results in a finding of "not guilty." This is our system...live with it.
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The Undertaker said:
They want the charges dismissed. And I want a million dollars and the girl that I am obsessed with to love me.
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Examiner Reader said:
They should be charged with first degree murder.END OF STORY
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