Oct 1, 2013 By The 3 min read

The mother of a man who committed suicide in the Fayette County Prison wants a federal judge to let her amend a civil complaint to include allegations that “a substantial delay” in lifesaving actions caused her son’s death.

Attorney Noah Geary, who represents Shannon Ferencz, mother of Cade Stevens, contended that there was five-minute delay between when Stevens, 25, of Dawson was cut down from the bed sheet he used to hang himself and when anyone started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

“Four correctional officers are viewed on video surveillance footage standing around, doing nothing, while Stevens, still alive, laid on the prison floor. Significantly, Stevens’ neck was not broken in the hanging,” Geary wrote. “Plaintiff’s counsel learned after consultation with experts that the immediate administration of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) to Stevens could have saved his life.”

Geary contended that questions about when CPR was administered were addressed during depositions, and amending the complaint would cause no harm to Fayette County, nor the prison officials who are named in the complaint.

On Sept. 12, 2009, Stevens hanged himself in his cell. He tried twice unsuccessfully to do so, before completing the act the third time, the suit alleged. Stevens, a drug addict, was brought to the prison after he was arrested for robbing men on a golf course.

Geary claimed that the hanging attempts were all on closed-circuit televisions that were visible to guards and that Stevens hung for about 30 minutes before guards noticed what had happened. Geary alleged Stevens was misclassified when he was brought into the prison and should have been put on suicide watch.

Ferencz sued prison medical provider PrimeCare Medical Inc., Fayette County, former warden Larry Medlock, Warden Brian Miller, guards Geary O’Neil and Barry Simon and counselor Louis Krukowski in September 2011.

On Monday, attorney Marie M. Jones filed a motion to dismiss the suit on behalf of the county and Miller, Medlock and Krukowski.

In the filing, she argued that the county and three men are immune from the suit because they could not predict Stevens would commit suicide, and there is no evidence that any of them did anything to drive Stevens to kill himself. Jones also contended that Stevens’ rights were not violated because corrections officers allegedly did not pay attention to video monitors that would have shown Stevens’ cell.

She also debunked claims that Simon or O’Neil “napped” on the job before the day Stevens died. Geary alleged that one of the officers was sleeping instead of watching the monitors.

Jones noted that both officers were fired.

A judge will decide at a later date if the suit will be dismissed.