MONROE - A Green County judge will announce later this month whether the civil case concerning a teen's death in the Green County Jail should be dismissed.
At issue is if there was a viable complaint of wrongful death made on the plaintiff's side. Judge Thomas Vale said in a motion hearing Wednesday that he will issue an oral ruling July 21.
Kyle Peotter, 17, died of a suspected methadone overdose while imprisoned in early 2013. Peotter was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell shortly before 6 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2013, and pronounced dead at the jail.
Methadone is a synthetic opiate used to treat severe chronic pain and heroin dependence. It is not allowed in the Green County Jail.
Amber and Michael DeGraff, Peotter's mother and stepfather, and their attorney Michael Witt, filed a complaint in June claiming the wrongful death of Peotter. The claim is aimed at numerous defendants from local and state governmental bodies, officers, agents and employees.
The defendants' attorney, Michele Ford, said in Wednesday's hearing that although the plaintiff's complaint was filed in a timely matter, the content of the complaint neglects to allege that a wrongful death occurred.
Witt pointed to his own brief filed to the court in June and said in the second paragraph he alleged a wrongful death took place.
"It says there on the first page that, yes, a wrongful death occurred," Witt said.
But Ford argued that the wording of the original complaint did not provide any actionable evidence to prove or disprove that a wrongful death occurred. After the court proceedings, she said that typically in these kinds of circumstances, a plaintiff attorney will use hearsay evidence as proof to move the case along, but that was never included in Witt's complaint.
Witt countered that since an investigation was ongoing while he was filing his complaint, he did not use hearsay to show that Peotter had died.
"The original complaint did not bring forth an actionable cause," Ford said.
Since there was no definite finding that the complaint cannot be amended to reflect that a wrongful death occurred, Vale held off on making a decision. Vale did say that the time to amend the complaint fell out of the statute of repose of six months, and could likely not be amended.
"The plaintiff has to live or die with that complaint," Vale said.
Peotter had been in jail five months before his death. He was jailed Sept. 27 after getting arrested in Monroe on felony charges of vehicle theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His arrest came after a summer of numerous run-ins with Monroe police for minor infractions such as drawing graffiti in Recreation Park, being disorderly and trespassing.
At issue is if there was a viable complaint of wrongful death made on the plaintiff's side. Judge Thomas Vale said in a motion hearing Wednesday that he will issue an oral ruling July 21.
Kyle Peotter, 17, died of a suspected methadone overdose while imprisoned in early 2013. Peotter was found unresponsive and not breathing in his cell shortly before 6 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2013, and pronounced dead at the jail.
Methadone is a synthetic opiate used to treat severe chronic pain and heroin dependence. It is not allowed in the Green County Jail.
Amber and Michael DeGraff, Peotter's mother and stepfather, and their attorney Michael Witt, filed a complaint in June claiming the wrongful death of Peotter. The claim is aimed at numerous defendants from local and state governmental bodies, officers, agents and employees.
The defendants' attorney, Michele Ford, said in Wednesday's hearing that although the plaintiff's complaint was filed in a timely matter, the content of the complaint neglects to allege that a wrongful death occurred.
Witt pointed to his own brief filed to the court in June and said in the second paragraph he alleged a wrongful death took place.
"It says there on the first page that, yes, a wrongful death occurred," Witt said.
But Ford argued that the wording of the original complaint did not provide any actionable evidence to prove or disprove that a wrongful death occurred. After the court proceedings, she said that typically in these kinds of circumstances, a plaintiff attorney will use hearsay evidence as proof to move the case along, but that was never included in Witt's complaint.
Witt countered that since an investigation was ongoing while he was filing his complaint, he did not use hearsay to show that Peotter had died.
"The original complaint did not bring forth an actionable cause," Ford said.
Since there was no definite finding that the complaint cannot be amended to reflect that a wrongful death occurred, Vale held off on making a decision. Vale did say that the time to amend the complaint fell out of the statute of repose of six months, and could likely not be amended.
"The plaintiff has to live or die with that complaint," Vale said.
Peotter had been in jail five months before his death. He was jailed Sept. 27 after getting arrested in Monroe on felony charges of vehicle theft and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His arrest came after a summer of numerous run-ins with Monroe police for minor infractions such as drawing graffiti in Recreation Park, being disorderly and trespassing.