The family of a man killed in a psychiatric hospital is criticizing an attempt to withdraw murder charges against five lawmakers

UNDATED (AP) — A Virginia judge has approved a prosecutor’s request to withdraw charges against five other people in connection with the 2023 death of Irvo Otieno, a young man who was pinned to the ground for about 11 minutes as he was hospitalized in a state psychiatric hospital.

Judge Joseph Teefy of Dinwiddie Circuit Court on Sunday agreed to the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the case against five sheriff’s deputies nolle prosequi – or effectively dismissed for the time being, according to court records. Prosecutors could still try to renew the charges, lawyers involved in the matter said.

The move means only three of the 10 Henrico County deputies and Central State Hospital employees originally charged with second-degree murder in Otieno’s death currently have criminal charges pending. The death was captured on video, sparking outrage and calls for mental health and law enforcement reforms.

Otieno, a 28-year-old black man, was taken into custody in suburban Richmond amid a mental health crisis. He was initially taken to a private hospital but was later detained after police officers said he became combative. He was later transferred to the state psychiatric hospital south of Richmond, where he died in March 2023 from what a medical examiner determined was “positional and mechanical asphyxia from restraints.”

Hospital video showed a crush of deputies and hospital workers holding Otieno while he wore handcuffs and shackles.

Otieno’s mother and her lawyers, speaking at a news conference on Monday, said they strongly disagreed with the prosecution’s actions. But they also said prosecutors assured them that the decision was made for strategic reasons and that she intended to pursue the charges again.

Caroline Ouko, Otieno’s mother, called the move a “radical, reckless decision with major consequences.”

“We demand justice and nothing less,” she said, repeating her longstanding call for the U.S. Justice Department to intervene in the case.

The prosecutor, Dinwiddie County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amanda Mann, did not respond to questions from The Associated Press. She said in a news release that her motions for nolle prosequi let the prosecution speak for itself and she would have no further comment.

In those motions, Mann wrote that her predecessor, an interim commonwealth’s attorney, set the order of the defendants’ trials. The timing of the hearings was strategic, Mann wrote in each individual’s motions, adding that she “did not believe the order represented informed and competent prosecutorial decision-making.”

Russ Stone, defense attorney for one of the five deputies, Dwayne Bramble, said Mann could choose to pursue the charges again. However, he said such a development was “extremely rare”.

“We have always felt that this was an overreach by the prosecution,” Stone said.

“And we appreciate the fact that the current prosecutor has corrected that,” he said.

Defense attorneys for the others — Jermaine Branch, Randy Boyer, Bradley Disse and Tabitha Levere — did not respond to telephone messages seeking comment.

The prosecutor who originally handled the case – and has since left the job – dropped criminal charges against two hospital employees last June.

According to online court records, jury trials for the two deputies and a hospital employee with ongoing cases are scheduled for October and December.

In a separate civil lawsuit, Otieno’s family agreed to an $8.5 million settlement with the state, county and sheriff’s department, whose deputies helped detain him.

Otieno’s family, his legal team and other advocates have raised concerns that Otieno’s race played a role in the way he was treated. According to court documents, the group of people facing charges in connection with his death were biracial people.

Nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is part of the family’s legal team, has drawn comparisons between Otieno’s death and the killing of George Floyd, whose family he also represented.

At Monday’s press conference, he said the case against the accused persons was not complicated as their interactions with Otieno were caught on camera. They should be prosecuted “zealously,” he said.

“The worrying problem for many of us in the black community is… we are quickly prosecuted when we are accused of a crime. However, when we become victims of crime at the hands of the authorities, there seem to be delays, delays and delays,” he said.