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A Lynchburg group has offered a reward.
An FBI agent threatened to shred a subpoena.
And state and national advocates for the mentally ill are outraged.
Such has been the response to the story of John McCloskey, a Rockbridge
County teen-ager fatally assaulted in 1994 while in custody of either the
county sheriff's office or Western State Hospital. Virginia State Police
have never solved the case.
Hoping to reignite interest in the case, the Lynchburg Depressive Disorders
Association announced a $1,000 reward last week for information leading
to the attacker's arrest and conviction.
"And we would hope other groups would join us," said the association's
president, Phil Theisen.
Other mental health advocates are focusing on the state police's failed
investigation and the state's lack of an independent agency to investigate
allegations of abuse at state mental hospitals. Virginia's official watchdog,
the Department for the Rights of Virginians with Disabilities, never investigated
McCloskey's case because it wasn't reported.
"Where the hell is our watchdog when someone has been brutalized horribly?" asked
Valerie Marsh, executive director for the Virginia Alliance for the Mentally
Ill. "They have federal authority. They don't have to be asked to take
a case. They should be there to know about them."
DRVD's managing attorney, Clyde Matthews, declined to comment last week,
but said earlier this year that "we have no systematic way of having these
[cases] reported to us."
John McCloskey, a manic-depressive 18-year-old who had just moved to
Virginia, was arrested by Rockbridge County deputies for indecent exposure
Dec. 15, 1994. That evening, he was committed to Western State Hospital
in Staunton. Three days later, he was rushed to a Charlottesville hospital
suffering from a ruptured liver and torn intestines. Doctors say someone
at the sheriff's office or state mental institution had seriously beaten
him or shoved a stick up his rectum. McCloskey eventually died after an
agonizing 14-month hospitalization.
An investigation by the Virginia State Police led nowhere, in part, because
no one could pinpoint exactly how and when McCloskey was hurt. His family
and attorney, Jonathan Rogers of Roanoke, believing state police didn't
investigate Western State thoroughly because both are part of state government,
asked the FBI to open a case. It, too, failed to identify a suspect.
Now Rogers is the only one left seeking answers. He blames Western State
because McCloskey passed a physical exam on his admission, and has filed
a $10 million federal lawsuit against the hospital staff. The attorney
general's office is defending the lawsuit, suggesting the deputies or perhaps
McCloskey himself inflicted the injuries.
Last week, after reading in The Roanoke Times that the FBI may have documents
that could affect his case, Rogers subpoenaed the agency. FBI agent Paul
Hunt in Roanoke first refused to accept the court papers, then said he
would take them to the U.S. Attorney's Office and shred them, Rogers said.
Hunt didn't return a telephone call seeking comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney
John Corcoran said he hasn't decided yet whether he'll try to quash the
subpoena.
"Everybody is aligned against the victim," Rogers said. "It makes no
sense he [Hunt] wouldn't share information with the people who requested
the investigation."
Meanwhile, state legislators serving Rockbridge and Augusta counties
were at a loss on how to help the McCloskeys.
"Unless there is somebody out there with the smoking gun, it may be the
type of thing that you never do know," said Sen. Emmett Hanger, who represents
both counties. "It doesn't seem like the Rockbridge Sheriff's Office was
at fault ... and, quite frankly, though there were concerns about Western
State, there's nothing that points to them, either."
"I don't know why the family isn't suing the Sheriff's Office," said
Del. Steve Landes, R-Augusta County. "Maybe they're going after the state
because it's got deeper pockets."
Hanger did say he found it "inappropriate" that Western State shifted
blame from itself so aggressively -- even though it had no proof -- when
state police first began investigating.
"But you also have to recognize that at that time they were under intense
scrutiny and the feds were looking to pounce on them," Hanger said.
That feared scrutiny isn't over. Any day now, the U.S. Department of
Justice is expected to release its report on Western State. The federal
investigation was prompted in part by the July 1997 death of Maura Patten,
whose complaints of poor health in the last days of her life went ignored
by hospital staff. Eleven days ago, her brother filed a $6 million lawsuit
against the hospital.
Other incidents this month have further tarnished the state's mental
health care reputation. On June 9, the state settled a lawsuit brought
by the family of Gloria Huntley, who died in June 1996 strapped to her
bed at Central State Hospital in Petersburg. On June 13, a Central State
patient fatally body-slammed another patient -- a death some say was allowed
to happen because of understaffing.
With these deaths -- and McCloskey's -- in mind, Jim McNulty, a board
member for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, wants to establish
a mental health Wall of Shame, with Virginia among its charter members.
"The system isn't working," McNulty said.
Mark Miner, spokesman for Gov. Jim Gilmore, said, "The problems at these
hospitals did not occur overnight and won't be fixed overnight." The governor's
plan of increased funding and the newly created position of inspector general
will help the system, Miner said.
But none of this will help the family of John McCloskey.
His parents could ask the General
Assembly to pass a claims bill that would earmark money to compensate
them. But the claim won't be considered as long as their lawsuit remains
active, Hanger and Landes said. And the McCloskeys must first prove the
state hospital is responsible, something the legislators doubt can be
done.
Furthermore, a claims bill won't give the McCloskeys what they seek --
the truth about their son's death. To that end, attorney Rogers says he
will continue his quest.
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