DOVER, Del. (AP) — A former Democratic candidate for attorney general has been chastised by a federal judge for falling short of “serious lawyering” in a lawsuit involving the death of a Delaware prison inmate.
Chris Johnson, who is also a former deputy legal counsel to Democratic Gov. John Carney, filed the lawsuit in 2020 on behalf of the mother of Tiffany Reeves, who died at Sussex Correctional Institution in October 2018.
The lawsuit alleges that officials with the Department of Correction and the DOC’s medical contractor at the time, Connections Community Support Programs, failed to provide proper medical care for Reeves after she was arrested on two outstanding warrants.
Judge Stephanos Bibas on Friday dismissed three current and former DOC officials as defendants because Johnson had failed to properly serve them with notification of the lawsuit within the required 120-day time period. Johnson also failed to serve notice to the Delaware attorney general’s office, as he was required to do because the DOC defendants were “officers of the state.”
“The mother’s lawyer shirked both requirements,” the judge wrote.
“This tragic suit makes serious allegations about an inmate’s mistreatment in jail. It deserves equally serious lawyering,” Bibas added. “But the mother’s lawyer fell short.”
In dismissing the DOC defendants, Bibas also ordered Johnson to give Reeves’ mother a copy of his ruling and have her sign a letter confirming receipt.
Johnson, who ran unsuccessfully for...
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