Parties look to settle wrongful death lawsuit over death of Mississippi County inmate

CHARLESTON, Mo. — A federal, wrongful-death lawsuit against embattled Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson and others could be settled in June, court records show.

Federal Judge John Ross has scheduled a hearing on the proposed settlement for 4 p.m. June 18 at the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

Plaintiffs are seeking a total settlement of $270,000 in connection with the death of Mississippi County Detention Center inmate Somer Nunnally in 2015. She died after less than 14 hours in custody, the suit states.

Hutcheson, who faces numerous unrelated criminal charges in his role as sheriff and is no longer running the sheriff’s department, was jail administrator at the time of the incident.

The suit claimed jailers did not offer proper medical care for the 21-year-old Nunnally during an overdose and let her die in her cell.

According to the suit, a video shows a jailer laughing at the woman at different points in the night and demonstrates she cried out for medical help an hour before she was found dead.

The suit was filed on behalf of the woman’s two young children by the children’s father, Devin Arnold. Michelle Nunnally, the mother of the deceased inmate, was later added as an intervenor in the case.

Both Arnold and Michelle Nunnally stated in a court document the proposed settlement is “fair and reasonable.”

The suit alleges jailers who worked for then-jail administrator Hutcheson and Charleston, Missouri, police officers failed to provide adequate medical care to inmate Somer Nunnally.

It alleges two counts of federal civil-rights violations and one count of wrongful death. The suit seeks “fair and reasonable damages” as well as punitive damages.

Named as defendants besides Hutcheson are the county government, then-Sheriff Keith Moore, detention officers Josh Cooper, Sally Gammons Yanez and Chris Wooten, The City of Charleston and Charleston public-safety director Robert Hearnes and officers Curtis Arnold, James Williams and Brent Douglas.

The proposed settlement, outlined in a recent court filing, calls for the city of Charleston to pay $75,000 and Mississippi County to pay $195,000, according to court records.

The defendants have denied they were negligent “or at fault” in the death of Somer Nunnally.

According to the lawsuit, Nunnally had purchased prescription narcotics and/or other pills illegally before her arrest and had ingested “a large number of pills” before the officer arrived on the scene.

Nunnally was arrested about 6:25 p.m. May 2, 2015, after the vehicle she was driving ran over a trash can.

She then was taken to the Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri, to have blood drawn to aid in prosecution of the case, the suit states.

At 8:40 p.m., she was taken to the Mississippi County Detention Center. Officer Williams, who took her to the jail, “was aware of Ms. Nunnally’s severe level of intoxication and dangerous condition,” according to the lawsuit.

Jail staffers also were aware of Nunnally’s condition, the suit alleges.

The complaint describes Nunnally’s hours as recorded on surveillance video.

“Throughout the entire 50-minute booking process, Ms. Nunnally was swaying, falling asleep, passing out, slumping over and almost falling out of her chair on multiple occasions,” the suit states.

About 9:30 p.m., Yanez took Nunnally into a room and performed a strip search, according to the suit.

During the booking process, Nunnally was incapable of signing her name on the medical questionnaire and instead marked an “X” in the signature line, the suit states.

At 9:41 p.m., Nunnally was placed in a jail cell to “sleep off the drugs in her system,” according to jailer Cooper, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit states Nunnally fell off the toilet in her cell about 10:20 p.m.

Jailer Wooten allegedly walked into the cell at 11:29 p.m. No jailer checked on her again until 2:07 a.m., May 3, according to the complaint.

Jailer Cooper “peers into the cell at 2:32 a.m., laughs, and continues to stand outside her cell for a brief moment,” the lawsuit alleges.

At 4:43 a.m., Cooper checks on Nunnally and “starts laughing,” the suit states.

Cooper peers into Nunnally’s cell-door window at 4:58 a.m., according to the suit, which alleges the woman was “crying and asking for help and medical attention.”

At 6 a.m., Nunnally was found to be unresponsive, and no pulse was detected, the suit states.

Ambulance personnel were called to the jail and found no heart activity, the suit states.

Coroner Terry Parker concluded Nunnally died from mixed-drug intoxication, according to the suit.

The death certificate states Nunnally was found about 5 a.m., “yet no one was contacted regarding her death until after 6 a.m.,” the lawsuit alleges.

“Defendants knew of Ms. Nunnally’s need for medical attention, and they repeatedly and continually disregarded an excessive risk” to her health and safety, according to the suit.

The lawsuit also accuses defendants of “deliberate indifference,” and “intentional and/or negligent acts.”

The suit claims Mississippi County has “a custom, policy and practice of failing to provide medical care” for inmates.

According to the suit, Hutcheson and the Mississippi County government “allowed correction officers with no or inadequate training to assess” medical conditions and withhold or deny medical treatment.