CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County jury awarded more than $700,000 to the family of a 32-year-old inmate at Huttonsville Correctional Facility who died from septic shock his estate says was ignored by guards for days.
The jury handed down the verdict of $711,237 on November 17 to the family of Rocco “Rocky” Iacovone after a trial handled by Circuit Judge Tera Salango. The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation was the lone defendant to stand trial after not making a settlement offer before the case. Wexford Medical Sources, the contractor for healthcare services with the DOC, settled with the family a week before the trial for an undisclosed amount.
Because of the septic shock caused by a bacterial infection, Iacovone became more and more ill and disoriented in his cell. He died August 28, 2018. The jury found the guards were deliberately indifferent to the emergency medical condition, a heightened legal standard required in cases involving constitutional violations in inmate cases.
diTrapano
L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys who represented the family, said the verdict is a big deal because more and more people know how bad of a reputation the state jail system has. He said more attorneys are helping victims and families.
“The testimony revealed that Iacovone was unable to walk without assistance or coherently talk in the days leading up to his death,” diTrapano said. “Other inmates testified that Iacovone’s condition continued to deteriorate and he became increasingly sick in the days before his death.
“The inmates said that they had asked the guards to help Iacovone multiple times but were ignored.”
DiTrapano also said testimony and medical records introduced at trial showed Iacovone became increasingly disoriented and experienced mottling, a medical condition usually associated with end of life when a person’s skin becomes severely discolored due to a lack of blood flow. Testimony also showed the skin discoloration had been present for days and that the guards had ignored these obvious signs of a medical emergency.
During the trial, DOC officials didn’t deny Iacovone was sick, but they said he didn’t notify anyone and that the jury shouldn’t have believe the two inmates who testified.
“They also alleged that Rocco had walked on his own to the shower the morning he died and a guard testified that while he didn’t have his normal look that day, that Iacovone was nevertheless able to walk to the shower unassisted,” diTrapano said. “However, two inmates testified that Iacovone was unable to walk unassisted for at least two days.
“One inmate testified that three different cells had told the guard how sick Iacovone was during a routine cell count the day before and that the guard claimed he would get medical help but ignored the complaints.”
During testimony, all of the guards and DOC staff admitted guards had a duty to observe each inmate at least six times per day to see if they were living and not in a medical emergency. They testified that if a medical emergency existed they had a duty to notify the medical staff, who could have reached the cell within four minutes.
DiTrapano said DOC policy requires inmates to stand and walk to the cell door to show their ID card to a guard once a day. In addition to the inmates’ testimony, diTrapano said expert medical testimony showed Iacovone could not have stood unassisted in his debilitated condition.
“When Iacovone was finally brought to medical hours before he died, his oxygen saturation level was 84 percent, and his blood pressure was dangerously low,” diTrapano said. “The medical staff immediately called for an ambulance, and Iacovone was transported to a local hospital. But he died before he could be lifeflighted to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown.”
A physician testified that if action had been taken to help Iacovone at 11 p.m. the night before his death, he would have had a better than 90 percent chance of survival. The doctor also said if staff had requested help even six hours earlier, Iacovone likely would have survived because antibiotics likely would have been enough.
“This type of indifference should never be tolerated,” said Jesse Forbes, another attorney who represented the family. “Doing something just hours earlier would have saved Rocco but they ignored him for days and days.
“The DOC has rules in place for a reason and it is entirely unacceptable to ignore a person’s dire medical emergency. Our society cannot simply lock people away without access to healthcare. The inmates were begging staff for help but those calls went unanswered.”
Forbes called the verdict “a tremendous decision acknowledging the basic human rights we all share, no matter who you are.”
“This tragic case demonstrates the continued problems present in our overcrowded and understaffed jails and prisons,” Forbes said. “Hopefully this decision will shine a light on these problems and be the difference in the life of someone else’s son or brother. In this case, the jury followed the rules when the guards would not.”
DiTrapano said he hopes the verdict brings change and helps save other lives.
“No one should be ignored when they are having a medical emergency, especially by the people they rely upon for every basic need,” he said. “The jury saw the truth and truth is these guards ignored a man who was sick and dying.
“Nothing will bring this young man back, but this decision brings a sense of justice for these horrific actions. When our society sends someone to prison we must be confident their basic needs are met, otherwise we lose confidence in the system as a whole.
“The truth came out in this case, and the jury’s decision will finally allow the family to feel some sense of closure and begin to heal. Our prisons and jails have rules for a reason and when you break the rules the law is there to hold you accountable. In this case, the law worked.”
The verdict included $400,000 for Iacovone’s lost earning capacity, $275,000 for lost household services, $20,000 for his suffering before his death and $16,237 for funeral expenses.
Iacovone was serving sentences for escaping from a Pennsylvania county jail in 2017 and for a high-speed chase earlier that year that started in Fairmont and ended in Pennsylvania following an armed robbery of a gas station.
The estate was represented by diTrapano and Amanda Davis of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 20-C-602
