Teen on life support was on suicide watch

Incident raises questions about his supervision, charges

The incarcerated teen who tried to hang himself over the weekend had been on suicide watch for two days after he was arrested in late June, the Broward Sheriff ’s Office said Wednesday.

Sonny David Rugani, 17, remains alive only technically — he is brain dead and on life support, according to his father, with decisions being made about where to donate his organs. He was found hanging in his cell early Sunday morning, raising questions about his supervision and the severity of the criminal charges he faced.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, said Rugani was transported to a hospital early Sunday morning, but answers to questions about why he was ultimately cleared by mental health experts were not available late Wednesday.

Rugani was housed with other juveniles charged as adults after his June 25 arrest.

“During the following two months, the inmate did not exhibit or express suicidal tendencies and participated daily in the educational and juvenile Life Skills programs,” said Broward Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion.

Life Skills programs include anger management, communication skills, self-control skills, peer associations, substance abuse and individual counseling.

Rugani was charged as an adult with grand theft of a firearm, a third degree felony punishable by five years in prison, and burglary with a firearm, a first degree felony punishable by a maximum of life in prison, for allegedly stealing a backpack from a neighbor’s parked Mercedes on June 1. The fact that a gun was in the backpack allowed prosecutors to charge Rugani with armed burglary, but his lawyers say prosecutors had the discretion to charge him as a minor with a lesser offense.

The Broward Public Defender’s Office, which was representing Rugani, said the criminal charge may have contributed to the stress that Rugani felt as he decided to end his life, though Rugani had expressed a desire to hang himself weeks before he knew he was being charged as an adult.

“They chose to charge him with the most serious felony,” said Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes. “He did not use the gun to commit the crime. He stole the gun. He could have been charged with burglary as a juvenile.”

On Tuesday, prosecutors said their hands were tied under the law at the time of the offense. In part because Rugani had prior offenses, he could not be charged as a juvenile for armed burglary. Florida law has since changed to allow prosecutors more flexibility to keep underage offenders in the juvenile system for that offense.

Rugani’s lawyers say he shouldn’t been able to hang himself in a jail cell.

According to police reports, Rugani’s parents were concerned that he might harm them with the gun he stole. Keeping him in custody, prosecutor Maria Schneider said Tuesday, appeared to be in everyone’s best interest at the time.

Under the law, she said, someone who arms himself while stealing is charged with an armed burglary, whether or not he had a weapon when the theft began. In Rugani’s case, it guaranteed he would be charged as an adult, although he could still have been sentenced to juvenile detention.

Both Schneider and Rugani’s father said earlier this week they were anticipating the case would be resolved with a juvenile sentence.