Sister Of Inmate Found Dead On Bunk Seeks Court Order

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA — It was a year to the day her brother’s body was found hidden in his cell at the Donovan Correction Facility in Otay Mesa that Covina resident Sandra Carbajal learned state officials had rejected her request for compensation from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The April 24, 2018 letter from California’s Government Claims Program culminated several months of correspondence over the issue of compensation for the death of James Acuna. Carbajal was simply told her claim was denied because it had been submitted too late and if she didn’t like the decision court was the next stop.

That’s just where Carbajal went.

In a petition filed with the San Diego County Superior Court on Oct. 24, Carbajal’s attorneys argue her claim was, in fact, submitted within the time limit and seeks a court order allowing Carbajal and Acuna’s estate to sue CDCR and several of its employees. The underlying issue revolves around specifically when the clock starts running on the law’s requirement that claims must be filed within six months of an incident.

A hearing on Carbajal’s petition has been scheduled April 4, 2019.

Acuna, 58, was last seen alive on April 21, 2017 and his body wasn’t discovered until three days later concealed under a blanket in his cell and decayed to the point it created an odor prison employees initially thought was a sewage problem until they finally investigated.

• Hidden Body, Falsified Records: Inmate's Death Plagues CA Prison

An autopsy found decomposition so advanced the exact cause of death was officially declared to be “undetermined.” The medical examiner reported while it was possible Acuna died of natural causes “homicidal violence cannot be completely excluded,” indicating his body showed “signs of minor blunt force injury of head and extremities.”

Although Acuna’s body was cremated and the ashes scattered at sea about six weeks after the autopsy, Carbajal and other members of the family were never notified of the death and only learned Acuna had died when his brother discovered an online news story on Sept. 17, nearly five months later.

At the time, prison officials said all “reasonable” efforts to reach the family went unanswered. Acuna’s death certificate indicated family members were "unknown" and the Donovan Correctional Facility was listed as Acuna’s next-of-kin.

Administrative Process Begins

On Nov. 3, 2017, Carbajal, as a representative of Acuna’s estate, filled out and submitted an online claim with the state Department of General Services which has operated the state’s claim program since 2016 when it was transferred to the DGS Office of Risk and Insurance Management from the Victims Compensation & Government Claims Board. Lawsuits against the state are allowed only if a claim has been rejected or otherwise denied by DGS.

In denying Carbajal’s claim on the grounds she had missed the deadline for submitting her request, DGS said her only recourse was a court order granting a waiver of the time limit.

The issue boils down to a period of just 10 days and whether the state was splitting hairs to avoid being sued. Although state law required Carbajal to submit her claim within six months of Acuna’s death – giving the state time to settle before a lawsuit is filed -- it also permits the Claims Board to waive that requirement if the failure to file a claim was due to a “mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect.”

By filing her claim on Nov. 3 the state contends Carbajal was 10 days over the six-month limit. Carbajal’s petition, however, argues that the Claims Board should have accepted her application on the basis of ‘surprise or excusable neglect’ because of the delay in the family hearing about Acuna’s death.

Carbajal’s petition further argues that she met the legal requirements for submitting a claim because she only learned of her brother’s death five months after it occurred and under the state’s delayed discovery rule – which dictates that time limits begin when somebody first learns of an incident – her claim was filed well within the required six-month time period which should have begun on Sept. 17, not April 24.

A CDCR spokesperson told Patch this week the department has not yet seen a copy of the petition.

Questions Remain

Acuna’s death occurred sometime between the afternoon of April 21, 2017 and April 24 when his body was discovered and the circumstances surrounding his demise continue to pose many questions whose answers remain hidden behind the secrecy of CDCR disciplinary proceedings and in investigative reports the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office refuses to release – even to Carbajal’s attorneys -- claiming its investigation continues more than 18 months after his death.

One overriding question, which may never be answered publicly, is why Acuna’s body went unnoticed despite required inmate headcounts and the fact Acuna was supposed to have received daily medication in person and presumably healthcare personnel would have noticed that he wasn’t present to receive his prescriptions.

An investigation by CDCR’s Office of Internal Affairs found potential misconduct on the part of eight correctional officers, two licensed psychiatric technicians and a teacher who failed to properly monitor Acuna or discover he had died until three days later.

However, CDCR’s Office of Inspector General, which oversees all department operations, later discovered internal affairs investigators had refused to pursue misconduct allegations against seven other prison employees. Four months after Acuna’s death the investigation was expanded to include the additional employees.

Ultimately, just seven employees were disciplined in connection with Acuna’s death.

A spokesman for the OIG told Patch it “appears disciplinary proceedings have been completed” for all employees who were formally disciplined but specific details of the punishments won’t be released until next March or April when the OIG issues its Semi-Annual Report.

Cellmate Says Little

Another question is what Matthew Jeremy Roberts, Acuna’s cellmate, may have told investigators about the death. Roberts was serving time for killing his father, wrapping the body in a sheet and hiding it under a mattress where it decomposed before being discovered by Salinas police in 2010. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, Roberts allegedly told a mental healthcare professional at the prison that he “had murdered his former cellmate to get a cell to himself” while he was incarcerated in Kern County, although Patch has been unable to verify that claim.

Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Blevins told Patch earlier this year that investigators interviewed several prison officials and inmates, including Roberts, who didn’t make “much of a response at all.”

Investigators were told that a day after Acuna was last seen alive another inmate attempted to enter his cell, but was told by Roberts that Acuna had the flu. The autopsy report further noted that Roberts also attempted to block prison staff from checking on Acuna’s welfare.

Shortly after Acuna’s death Roberts was quickly transferred to a prison near Salinas. He has not responded to requests from Patch for an interview.

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