SLO County judge wouldn't release dying jail inmate, before sheriff found one who would

An hour after a judge rejected the Sheriff’s Office’s emergency request to release a critically ill County Jail inmate from its custody, Sheriff Ian Parkinson himself called another jurist for approval and got it.

Judge Ginger Garrett was visibly unhappy at a special hearing Monday to inform county attorneys about the sheriff’s compassionate medical release request, which occurred outside the courtroom on Friday as inmate Bruce Allen McKnight was being treated at French Hospital Medical Center, where he'd been since May 22 following a suspected heroin overdose.

The Sheriff's Office request to Garrett came shortly after McKnight's condition took a turn for the worse on Friday and he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in critical condition.

A spokeswoman for French Hospital said Monday that McKnight has recovered from the medical crisis and is now listed in good condition.

The Sheriff's Office and other county departments have come under intense scrutiny following a high-profile series of inmate in-custody deaths involving inmates with mental and medical health issues. Since 2012, 12 inmates have died in Sheriff's Office custody, and the FBI is currently investigating allegations of federal civil rights abuses at the jail.

The deaths led to calls for Parkinson to step out of Tuesday's election for sheriff, which he's rejected. Had McKnight died before being "released" from sheriff's custody, it would have been included in official state and federal reports as yet another in-custody death.

Requests to Parkinson for comment Monday were referred to Undersheriff Tim Olivas, who declined to go into specifics on the matter pending a scheduled hearing Tuesday morning in which county attorneys will be able to address the court on the record.

Inmate found unresponsive

McKnight, 65, who was in County Jail awaiting sentencing on drug-related convictions, was found May 22 by a correctional deputy unresponsive on his bed, not breathing and with no pulse, according to a news release issued by the Sheriff's Office on Friday.

McKnight regained his pulse after seven minutes of "high-performance CPR," the Sheriff's Office said, and he was taken to a local hospital. The Sheriff's Office also said that McKnight "has chronic medical conditions requiring advanced medical care, which required his transportation to a local hospital on four different occasions since his incarceration, including this transport."

In the news release Friday, the Sheriff's Office said a judge ordered McKnight to be removed from the jail's custody "under compassionate release conditions" to allow him "to see his family and focus on his health and well-being."

But Garrett on Monday revealed more about how McKnight's release transpired.

In a hearing that included the deputy district attorney assigned to McKnight's pending cases, McKnight's public defender, and a deputy from the County Counsel's Office, Garrett said she was "surprised" to read in a newspaper Saturday that McKnight had been released after she rejected an outside-of-the-courtroom request from county officials Friday to release McKnight from county custody on a compassionate release.

Garrett said the purpose of Monday's hearing was to fulfill her obligations to give notice to attorneys involved in McKnight's case.

Garrett said that Friday morning she received a message from the Sheriff's Office attempting to obtain the compassionate release for McKnight. She said she responded that the county would need to present the appropriate medical and other paperwork and that she would have to notice the parties in the case.

At about 11:30 a.m., Garrett said she was approached in the hallway outside her chambers by a correctional lieutenant and two nurses to talk about the release. In her chambers, Garrett said she explained that she couldn't talk to them about McKnight because it would be a prohibited ex-parte communication, only involving one side of the case. She also said that she couldn't approve the release because of noticing issues and because there were no records produced.

Garrett said Monday that she explained she wasn't assigned to McKnight's case, and that Judge Jacquelyn Duffy, who was at the time overseeing a murder trial and unavailable. Garrett said she explained that if the lieutenant could gather the appropriate documents, notice the attorneys, and get the OK from Duffy, she would hear the matter that afternoon.

"At that point, that was the end of it, as far as I knew," Garrett said.

She said she found out about the release on Saturday, and on Monday learned that at about 12:20 a.m. Friday, Parkinson personally called retired San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Michael Duffy (who is married to Jacquelyn Duffy). He is currently assisting Santa Barbara Superior Court calendars as part of the retired judges program.

According to Garrett, Judge Michael Duffy approved Parkinson's request. However, Garrett noted that as of Monday afternoon there were no medical or other paperwork filed with the court. Court records did not reflect Monday that McKnight had been transferred out of custody.

Garrett also said it was conveyed to her Friday that McKnight was not expected to live beyond a couple days.

'No effort to go around'

Following the hearing, County Counsel Rita Neal told The Tribune that after Garrett denied the Friday request, county officials provided notice to the DA's Office and the public defender, and Parkinson drafted a memo authorizing McKnight's release which was physically placed in McKnight's inmate file.

Neal said that Parkinson first called Michael Duffy looking to reach Jacquelyn Duffy, and that, contrary to the Sheriff's Office's statement Friday, Parkinson sought an "O/R" (own recognizance) release because, Neal said, compassionate releases do not apply to inmates who haven't yet been convicted and sentenced.

Neal said that county staff was scrambling Friday to obtain the release so that McKnight could be with family at the hospital, and that it was appropriate given that the county gave notice to parties in McKnight's criminal case.

"There was no effort to go around Judge Garrett," Neal said.

Garrett has now recused herself from McKnight's cases, and the hearing about his transfer Tuesday will be heard by Judge Craig van Rooyen.

This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 8:06 PM with the headline "SLO County judge wouldn't release dying jail inmate, before sheriff found one who would."