Inmate dies; cause unknown

MANSFIELD — The Richland County Sheriff's Office hasn't provided any update regarding the death of a 32-year-old female inmate at the county jail on April 14. Candice Crose died inside a cell, according to a one-paragraph news release Sheriff Steve Sheldon sent to local media outlets the day after she died. Candice Crose, 32, an inmate at the Richland County jail, died April 14, 2024 Provided "At around 9 a.m., corrections staff and medical staff responded to a medical emergency in housing unit 3C11 involving inmate Candice Crose," the release states. "Life-saving measures were performed by the staff. But, unfortunately, Crose died at the hospital shortly after arriving. As is custom practice, an investigation is ongoing." Sheldon has not responded to written inquiries seeking more information about her death and he did not say what agency is investigating it. What happened? Crose died a day before the start of a murder trial in Richland County Common Pleas Court of a corrections officer related to a prior inmate's death in the jail. Mark Cooper, 57, of Shiloh, was acquitted on Wednesday of all charges. He was the only jail guard among five involved in the beating death of Wakeman resident Alex Rios, 28, on Sept. 11, 2019. In Rios' case, the Richland County Sheriff's Office failed to provide his family information about the circumstances of his death, including withholding jail surveillance video that shows how the officers punched, beat, kicked and used Tasers to electroshock Rios. Frustrated after failing to get any information about what happened after more than a year, the family notified county officials they were considering filing a wrongful death lawsuit. Alex Rios was the father of three young children and concern for their welfare prompted them to consider a lawsuit. An attorney for the county's insurance company offered to pay the family $250,000 to settle the matter. The amount was adjusted, however, after one of the jail surveillance videos was copied onto a thumb drive and anonymously left in an envelope at the family's home after the initial settlement offer was made. A copy of the video was provided to the insurance company attorney, and, four days later, the county agreed to pay the family $4 million to avoid a lawsuit. Beating on video The video shows what happened from start to finish to cause Rios' death. The five officers tackle Rios in a common area at the jail and begin beating and electroshocking him with Tasers. After about five minutes, Rios turns blue and stops breathing, the video shows. Cooper can be seen in the video standing on Rios' back near his neck with his full weight pressing down on him. Alex Rios, 28, in a coma at a Mansfield hospital after being assaulted by corrections officers at the Richland County jail in 2019. Provided Like Crose, Rios was taken to a Mansfield hospital where he never regained consciousness. Similarly, it will be up to Richland County coroner Daniel Burwell to determine a cause of death and the Montgomery County coroner's office will perform the autopsy In Rios' case, Burwell ruled his death an accident caused by excited delirium, a cause that isn't recognized as legitimate by qualified medical experts, some of whom say excited delirium is used to protect police officers from prosecution when individuals in custody die suddenly during physical control encounters with officers. A deputy Montgomery County coroner who performed the autopsy on Rios' body testified last year in a prior trial that she was pressured by her boss, chief deputy coroner Lee Lehman, to list excited delirium as the cause of death. That prior trial resulted in a hung jury, after which Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost agreed to have his office serve as prosecutor for Cooper's retrial, which started April 15. Yost appointed assistant attorney general Drew Wood to act as special prosecutor. Burwell and the Montgomery County coroner's office have never offered explanations for why they agreed to use a discredited cause of death ruling in Rios' case. During Cooper's retrial, Wood called both Burwell and Lehman as prosecution witnesses, a move that baffled and frustrated Rios' family since they testified previously — and again — that Rios' death was an accident caused by excited delirium, a false ruling. "We're asking the FBI and the Department of Justice to look at this," Don Mould, Rios' stepfather, told the Register Friday. "We're not giving up. We can't give up." The family has been distraught since the verdict was announced Wednesday, Mould said. Mould's wife, Toni, was a witness at both trials and was not allowed to be in the courtroom while other witnesses testified. Don Mould said he also was not in the courtroom, preferring to stay with his wife while she waited to be called to the witness stand. Win or lose On Thursday, Ogden Ohio Newspapers made a public records request for the incident report related to Crose's death and any related jail surveillance video, which are public records under state law and are required to be provided to anyone upon request. A law firm responded on behalf of the sheriff on Friday, stating the records were being compiled and would be provided. The Register also asked Yost and Wood about the family's concern that Wood failed to present legitimate evidence during the trial and instead presented weak evidence. Five different coroners, including the current and former Lorain County coroners, all reviewed all the available evidence and concluded that Rios died as the result of a homicide because his airway and chest were compressed making him unable to breathe. In addition, Edwin Voorhies, a former deputy director and senior policy advisor for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, also reviewed all the available evidence and the jail surveillance videos. He called the corrections officers' actions in Rios' case "the most objectionable misuse of deadly force (he ever) witnessed in a correctional setting," in a report provided to Yost and Wood. Another expert, Philip Stinson, a professor of criminology at Bowling Green State University and chief investigator with the college's Police Integrity Research Group, also concluded Rios' death was a homicide by asphyxiation. Yost and Wood also did not consult or use him at trial. "There is probable cause that state and federal crimes were committed by each of the other corrections officers involved in the incident because the officers were either directly involved in assaulting Rios and/or breached their legal duty of care to Rios as an inmate," Stinson wrote in a report last year that was also provided to Yost and Wood. "They all exhibited a callous and gross disregard for the value of Rios' life." The college's Police Integrity Research Group studies the phenomenon of police crime — crime committed by sworn law enforcement officers — for the public good. Yost and Wood declined to address questions sent to them on Thursday asking why all that evidence was excluded from Cooper's second trial. They also have declined to say if acquitting Cooper was the objective, as family members and others have suggested. They also have refused to say what information led to the decision that only Cooper would be charged in Rios' death. Sheriff Sheldon also has declined to say which agency is investigating Crose's death or answer questions about the Rios family's concerns that evidence was not presented at Cooper's trial and the same thing that happened to his family might happen to Crose's family.