A federal jury’s finding that the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department was partly responsible for an inmate’s drug-related death fails to recognize that the agency “makes every effort” to keep detainees safe, even while they choose to use illicit substances, the agency said Thursday.
“While our hearts go out to the decedent’s family for their loss, the sheriff’s office takes every precaution and makes every effort to ensure inmates are safe from dangers,” according to a statement released by the department Thursday. “We respect the legal process, but we are disappointed with the findings and the allocation of responsibility determined by the jury.”
On Wednesday morning, after a week of testimony, jurors in the civil trial stemming from the death of 29-year-old Richard Matus Jr. of Beaumont returned with a verdict that the county shared some of the blame for his fatal fentanyl poisoning in 2022.
The verdicts submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Sunshine Sykes in downtown Riverside “found in favor of the Matus family and awarded $13.5 million in damages,” plaintiffs’ attorney Christian Contreras said.
“The trial was vigorously defended by the county, but members of the Riverside community have now spoken, and the county jails need to be reformed to prevent further inmate deaths,” Contreras said.
There was no word on whether the county intends to appeal. Executive Office spokeswoman Brooke Federico told City News Service that, because jurors determined the county was only “40% at fault … the county is responsible for $5.4 million of the total amount.”
The mother of the dead inmate, Lisa Matus, filed the civil action against Sheriff Chad Bianco, several deputies and the county as a whole in early 2023, alleging violations of her son’s Constitutional right to equal protection under the law, deprivation of future relations with his family due to official negligence, failure to follow safe practices in the correctional system and other failings.
The county countered in court documents that Matus was responsible for his own actions and that the defendants lacked “sufficient knowledge or information or belief”’ that there were “grounds (for) the allegations.”
Lisa Matus sued on behalf of herself and her eldest son’s young daughter and son, whose names were not disclosed.
“It is incumbent on individuals (in jail) to understand the dangers of drugs, especially fentanyl, a poison killing far too many people, often without warning,” the sheriff’s department stated. “Our personnel … do a commendable job caring for our inmates, educating them and providing them with literature regarding the dangers of fentanyl, hoping it will deter them from drug use in and out of custody.”
The suit pivoted on whether correctional deputies assigned to the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta properly reacted when they were alerted by Matus’ cell mate that he was in medical distress on the night of Aug. 11, 2022.
The plaintiffs characterized the mishandling of the emergency as a systemic problem, noting that Matus was one of 22 inmates who died in the county correctional system that year.
“The individuals named in the lawsuit were repeatedly put on notice of great dangers which existed within Riverside County’s correctional facilities through the long history of in-custody deaths (and) the record-breaking amount of fentanyl overdoses throughout all county correctional facilities,” according to the plaintiffs’ complaint. “Long before Richard Matus Jr.’s death, the sheriff’s department knew there existed great indifference to the safety and protection of inmates.”
In one of the defendants’ briefs, they asserted “there were no grounds for liability” under several of the theories put forward by the plaintiffs.
The bulk of the case centered on Deputy Angel Rojas’ allegedly slow response to the inmate intercom call stating Matus was catatonic and in need of immediate “medical intervention,” according to court papers.
The plaintiffs argued that the “endemic, ongoing and unabated risks of injury or death to inmates” tied to illicit drugs and other circumstances within the jail system stemmed from institutional carelessness.
It was unclear where Matus had obtained the fentanyl. He was pronounced dead in his jail cell.
At the time, he was awaiting trial, along with his younger brother, now 26-year-old Raymond Emilio Paul Matus, for a violent takeover robbery at a cannabis store in Banning on June 23, 2018.
Ray Matus was ultimately convicted of attempted murder, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony and inflicting great bodily injury.
He was sentenced last year to 21 years to life in state prison.