Judge allows key claims against San Diego County in inmate beating death suit

(CN) — A federal judge in San Diego will allow claims against San Diego County and some of its employees in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of a man who was wrongly arrested and beaten to death in a county jail cell by another inmate.

U.S. District Judge Barry Moskowitz granted in part and denied in part a series of motions for summary judgment on Tuesday, brought by both San Diego County and the plaintiff, the estate of Dominique McCoy.

McCoy, who was 38 when he was killed, was arrested on Dec. 23, 2021, for failing to comply with his probation due to a clerical error. McCoy, whose probation period ended three months before his arrest, spent a week in custody at the San Diego County Central Jail in a Covid-19 quarantine cell.

A judge recognized that McCoy should not have been arrested and ordered his release. Just hours before he was supposed to be released, John Medina, 18 years old at the time, joined McCoy’s cell and killed him after an argument.

The family of McCoy filed a lawsuit against San Diego County in 2022. The family accuses the county of violating his constitutional rights under a Monell claim by enforcing its Covid-19 quarantine policies that allowed a violent inmate, who was accused of an assault, to be housed with a low-level offender.

Medina pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2024.

In his ruling, Moskowitz, a Bill Clinton appointee, denied the family summary judgment on the Monell claim, writing that whether the county acted with deliberate indifference was meant for trial. Moskowitz also denied the county’s motion for summary judgment on its housing policy.

“A rational jury could find that mixing high- and low-security inmates created an obvious danger to low-security inmates,” he wrote. “That of course is exactly why the county usually separates high- and low-security inmates. … Because plaintiff may be able to prove that the county’s policy amounted to deliberate indifference to McCoy’s right to be free from violence from other inmates, and was a moving force behind McCoy’s death, the county is not entitled to summary judgment as to its jail housing policy.”

Eugene Iredale, representing McCoy’s family, said he was pleased with the ruling.

“We are content with the outcome,” he said. “It shows the court did a thorough job of analyzing the issues.”

The family’s main issue with the county was its policy that allowed inmates of different security levels to be housed together, Iredale said. While McCoy was a level two, Medina was a level four.

However, Moskowitz dismissed some portions of the lawsuit in his ruling. For instance, Moskowitz granted summary judgment to the county on the claim that it was not responsible for McCoy’s recalled probation warrant, which landed him in jail in the first place.

The plaintiffs argued the county should have confirmed whether McCoy’s warrant was terminated.

“Plaintiff, however, lacks sufficient evidence showing that — as of Dec. 23, 2021 — there was a widespread and well-known problem of warrants being recalled but not terminated,” Moskowitz wrote. “Plaintiff’s evidence has no timeline, so a jury would be forced to speculate whether the problem was in fact widespread and well-known before Dec. 23, 2021. Plaintiff’s evidence would not allow a rational jury to find that the problem was widespread and well-known before the day McCoy was arrested.”

Iredale said he and his client are strongly considering appealing that ruling.

Moskowitz also dismissed Lieutenant Desan Tyson, who was on the jail committee that allowed the mixed housing, from the lawsuit, though claims against other individual defendants in the suit, including Deputy Daniel Cheung, mental health counselor Crystal Reeves and Corporal Jacob Saelens, could still proceed to trial.

Iredale said he anticipates an appeal from the county.

“All in all, we are satisfied,” he said. “We look forward to our day in court.”

A federal judge in a separate but related case in San Diego also allowed similar constitutional claims to proceed against the county regarding an inmate, Chaz Guy Young-Villasenor, who died of a drug overdose after taking a methamphetamine and/or fentanyl while in custody of the county at the San Diego County Central Jail.

Like McCoy, the plaintiffs also alleged a Monell claim against the county.

The family of Young-Villasenor plausibly claimed jail staff knew of the dangerous conditions at the jail and failed to act, U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia, a Barack Obama appointee, wrote. Battaglia granted in part and denied in part the county’s motion to dismiss the case, preserving its central civil rights claims against the county and its staff.

However, Battaglia granted a motion to dismiss some claims, but with leave to amend.

“I think it’s a great victory,” said Jerry Steering, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

The county declined to comment on either case.