Convicted killer suing over jail paralysis

A man convicted for his role in a drug-related triple murder in Harbor Gateway has filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County, saying he suffered a severe blow to the head while in his Men’s Central Jail cell last year that left him completely paralyzed.

Howard Williams, 38, can now only move his eyes to answer yes or no questions because off the blow and a subsequent stroke he suffered before jailers sought medical attention, the Los Angeles County Superior Court lawsuit says.

The suit, filed last week, accuses the county of civil rights violations, excessive force, failure to protect, deliberate indifference to serious medical needs and failure to summon immediate medical care.

He seeks unspecified damages.

Williams has been in jail since his March 2014 arrest in relation to a shooting that killed two men and a woman and injured another man in a Harbor Gateway apartment complex the previous May. The shooting was over missing marijuana, authorities have said.

He and co-defendant Randall Weir, the accused triggerman, were convicted of three counts of murder in May 2019. They were tried three times, with the first two proceedings ending in mistrials.

Williams was not accused of firing, but nodded to Weir shortly before the gunfire, prosecutor Rachel Hardiman has said.

In March, Weir was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Williams has not been sentenced. His criminal defense attorney, Robert Sheahen, said this week they were waiting on a judge’s ruling on a motion for a new trial when the jailhouse incident occurred.

On Dec. 12, while in his cell, Williams was hit in the head with an object by either a jailer or another inmate, causing him to “crumple to the ground,” the lawsuit alleges. It further says that jail staffers either did not conduct required hourly wellness checks or they ignored Williams’ need for medical attention for more than three hours until someone noticed he was having seizures.

Representatives of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which manages the county’s jail system, and the county’s lawyers did not provide comment on the lawsuit’s allegations after multiple requests.

Alan Romero, one of two lawyers representing Williams in the civil suit, said the slow response by the jail staff was what led to Williams’ paralysis.

Williams has been unable to communicate who may have hit him over the head, and the Sheriff’s Department has not provided details of the incident, Romero said.

“The guards are supposed to check (on inmates regularly and) they did not, which left him with a brain bleed,” Romero said Wednesday. “When he was transported to the hospital, they (hospital staffers) told the family if he was timely transported, he would be severely injured, but not this bad.

“This is a fate worse than death,” Romero said.

“This is another instance where (the Sheriff’s Department) has been found to have not met the standard of care in providing a safe custodial facility for inmates in their custody,” Romero said. “In this case … the result is this individual is going to be locked into their body for the rest of their life.”

Williams has a tube in his throat to aid his breathing and is unable to feed himself, instead receiving a special nutrient formula through a feeding tube surgically inserted into his stomach, the complaint says. He is kept on a bed designed to decrease pressure on his body and has to be turned every two hours to prevent bed sores, because he cannot move himself, the suit says.

He has remained in custody at LAC+USC Medical Center since Dec. 14, according to inmate records.

“Plaintiff’s prognosis is poor,” the complaint says. “There is a low expectation for even a limited recovery.”

Now, Sheahen said, he is hoping to get Williams released so he can be cared for by family in Florida. Williams has a 10-year-old son living in Georgia.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Sept. 15 in Long Beach Superior Court, Sheahen said.