11 Charged in Alameda County Jail Death, But Recall Leaves Case Up in the Air

Eleven staffers at Santa Rita Jail have been charged with felonies in connection to the 2021 death of a man who was incarcerated there and allegedly left unresponsive for days.

Maurice Monk, 45, died in his cell after days of not receiving adequate care or necessary medication from staff at the Dublin jail notorious for poor and dangerous conditions, according to his family’s lawyer. At least 66 people have died there since 2014, some from overdoses and others from lack of care.

The charges of dependent adult abuse against nine jail deputies and two health care workers were filed last week. Three of the deputies were also charged with falsifying documents.

“[Monk’s] family is optimistic that they’ll finally have these officers and medical professionals held responsible and accountable for a death that easily could have been prevented if not for their indifference and callousness that they displayed,” Adanté Pointer, the family’s lawyer, told KQED.

The family reached a $7 million settlement with Alameda County last year after filing a federal civil rights lawsuit. Pointer said the lawsuit revealed the true circumstances of Monk’s death. His family was originally told that he had died of natural causes.

“No one told them that he had been allowed to stew in his own excrement,” Pointer said. “No one told the family that the guards and the medical professionals were just throwing medications into his cell and not asking or checking in on him as if he was some animal at the zoo.”

The charges, filed nearly three years after Monk’s death on Nov. 15, 2021, come as District Attorney Pamela Price has been recalled by more than 65% of Alameda County voters. She will be ousted once the election is certified, sometime before the Dec. 5 deadline.

What will happen to the case at that point is unclear. Pointer noted that after San Francisco voters recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022, Brooke Jenkins has not prosecuted some officers charged with misconduct under his tenure.

If the Board of Supervisors were to appoint a district attorney committed to the “status quo” in Alameda County, he said, it’s possible the prosecution of the Santa Rita Jail staffers would not move forward.

“They’re charting the course of criminal justice here in Alameda County, and I would hope that they do not play politics with their selection,” Pointer said.

The district attorney’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Charges were filed just days before the case would have been outside of California’s statute of limitations for most felonies, which is three years. Two cases filed by Price’s office against Alameda police officers charged in the death of Mario Gonzalez were recently dropped after a judge ruled that it had missed the filing deadline. The third officer is still facing trial for the death of the unarmed man who was pinned to the ground by at least one officer in an Alameda park in 2021.

The deputies charged with dependent adult abuse in Monk’s death are Donall Chauncey Rowe, Thomas Mowrer, Ross Ohalloran Burruel, Robinderpal Singh Hayer, Andre Gaston, Troy Hershel White, Syear Osmani, Mateusz Laszuk and Christopher J. Haendel. Dr. Neal Edwards of Alameda County Forensic Behavioral Health and nurse David Everett Donoho of Wellpath, a private prison health care company, face the same charges.

Osmani, Hayer and White are also accused of falsifying official documents.

Wellpath’s director of external communications said the company was aware of the charges but could not comment on the situation further. Lawyers for the deputies didn’t respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

As of midday Wednesday, none appeared in the Alameda County jail log.

Despite the uncertainty hanging over the case, Pointer hopes it will continue past Price’s tenure, sending a message to the embattled detention center.

“We’re hopeful that by way of the criminal prosecution that it serves notice that Santa Rita Jail must shape up, that the community will not stand by and watch their loved ones receive substandard treatment and allow all the deaths to continue,” he said.

KQED’s Riley Cooke contributed to this report.