DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – Second-degree murder charges against the last three people with active cases tied to the 2023 death of Irvo Otieno have been reduced to involuntary manslaughter, online court records show.
The move to change the charges for the three people comes after second-degree murder charges were dropped against seven others in the case. Earlier this month, Otieno’s family criticized the decision to withdraw murder charges against five people and continued to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to step in for a federal investigation.
Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, died in March 2023 after he was pinned down by Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and Central State Hospital workers while in custody and being admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Dinwiddie County. His death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation by the state medical examiner’s office.
Video of Otieno being admitted and pinned down became public, leading to outrage, drawing wide attention and driving calls for bolstering mental health care services and changes in emergency responses. A $8.5 million wrongful death settlement was also finalized.
Ten people were initially accused and charged with second-degree murder in Otieno’s death, but charges were eventually dropped for seven and only three pending cases are remaining in Dinwiddie County.
A judge granted motions Wednesday to change the second-degree murder charges against the three still with active cases — Kaiyell Sanders, Brandon Rodgers and Wavie Jones — to involuntary manslaughter, per online court records.
“This does not feel like” any kind of “justice,” Caroline Ouko, Otieno’s mother, told 8News over the phone Wednesday. “The recent dismissals were really hard to understand,” she added.
Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amanda Mann has not responded to requests for comment.
“We did not object to today’s amendment of the charge to involuntary manslaughter,” W. Edward Riley, Sanders’ attorney, wrote in an email. “As we all know, this was an incredibly difficult situation and Mr. Sanders shares the sadness everyone feels at the passing of Mr. Otieno, however, he stands ready to defend this charge and continues in his position that he has done nothing wrong.”
Rodgers’ attorney declined to comment and an attorney for Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ouko said she hopes the charges dismissed against seven others could potentially be renewed by Mann. An attorney for one of the seven people who had their charges withdrawn said the charges could be refiled, but told 8News that possibility was “extremely rare.”
Ouko said the moves to reduce and dismiss charges highlight the racial bias in the criminal justice system, telling 8News that too many times it’s “hard to convict killers of Black people” compared to killers of white people and asking why it’s “so hard to secure justice for a Black man.”
She also noted a Facebook post from Otieno after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in which he wrote, per the New York Times, “two justices in America, one for us and one for the white folks.”
“Here it is, playing itself out,” Ouko said of Otieno’s view made in the post.
Surveillance video obtained and reviewed by 8News, which does not include sound, shows as many as 10 sheriff’s deputies and personnel at Virginia’s Central State Hospital pinning a handcuffed and shackled Otieno to the ground for over 11 minutes until he’s motionless.
The footage, obtained through a Dropbox link in public court records, shows Otieno being dragged into the psychiatric hospital at 4:19 p.m. on March 6, 2023, being restrained and pressed to the floor in a hospital admissions room and unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him after his body goes limp.
Police placed Otieno under an emergency custody order on March 3, three days before he died at Central State Hospital, following a reported burglary. Otieno’s family said he had a history of mental health struggles and that he was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time.
Before Otieno was transported to Central State Hospital, his family’s attorneys say he was taken from Parham Doctors’ Hospital to Henrico Jail West, claiming he was restrained for more than 11 hours in a chair, not given medication and was “severely beaten by Henrico County deputies.” Police said Otieno was taken to jail after he “became physically assaultive towards officers.”
Ouko reiterated her push for DOJ involvement Wednesday, urging for a federal investigation into the circumstances of Otieno’s death.
“There is so much evidence in the case. You don’t have to depend on someone testifying. It’s all on video,” Ouko told 8News. “And that video never changes.”
