WHY THIS DOCUMENT IS IMPORTANT

The Report of Inmate Death is to be filed with the NC Department of Health and Human Services, Jail and Detention Section, within 5 days of an inmate's death. You will notice on the very top of the report the explicit instructions to do exactly that. The report even gives the NC law, chapter and subsection where the law can be found and what the penalty is for disobeying the law. NCGS 153A-225 (b) states:

§ 153A-225.
(b) If a prisoner in a local confinement facility dies, the
medical examiner and the coroner shall be notified immediately.
Within five days after the day of the death, the administrator
of the facility shall make a written report to the local or
district health director and to the Secretary of Health and
Human Services. The report shall be made on forms developed and
distributed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
(c) If a person violates any provision of this section
(including the requirements regarding G.S. 130-97 and 130-121),
he is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

You will also notice that the report is not completed.

We called Chief Bob Lewis of the NCDHHS/DFS Jail and Detention Center. Chief Lewis was helpful in obtaining this document. When he discovered that the inmate Rummer's death was not reported to his office he immediately had the report sent to us directly from Captain C.A. Hayes with the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department.

One Sheriff in North Carolina plead guilty in a North Carolina District Court for this exact same offense. That Sheriff was 7 days late in filing.

The Sheriff was indicted because by North Carolina Law he is ultimately responsible for the actions of the deputies in his charge.

When District Attorney Carriker was asked about this he could not recall it being included in the inch and a half thick SBI investigative report he accepted at 4PM on May the 30th. When asked if he would enforce the letter of the law he had no specific comment he did indicate that, as in the election law violation during the Sheriff's race last election, it was an obscure law needing his own personal interpretation. He gave no direct indication as to when he would make such a judgment. When pressed for a date in which he may do that, he refused an answer, saying he would be out of the office for the next 3 weeks.