More News

The Prince George's County branch of the NAACP will ask the U.S. Department of Justice to take over the investigation into whether a 19-year-old inmate was killed by guards at the county jail.

NAACP officials cited media reports that the county's top prosecutor will not ask the second grand jury convened in the case to issue an indictment against the guards.

Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) said Monday he will take his lead from the justice department if officials decide to pursue the case.

"With respect to the death of Mr. White, the NAACP believes that without federal investigation, it is impracticable that anyone will be brought to justice," NAACP President June White Dillard wrote in her letter to the justice department, which she will release at a Tuesday press conference, according to a press release by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"This man was killed. It's homicide," Dillard said Monday, who said the request is a reaction to the "ineptitude" of the state's attorney's office. "And we have no resolution of that matter… We told [Ivey] that what it looks like from the outside is an absolute cover-up."

Ivey said Monday that one possibility would be for his office and the DOJ to pursue the case in tandem, with the state's attorney's office pursuing criminal charges against the guards and federal officials bringing charges of civil rights violations, but he said that it would be premature to comment on the future of the investigation until he hears back from the justice department.

"If DOJ decides to do it by themselves, that's great. If they want us to help, that's great. If they want some third variation, that's great," Ivey said.

White, 19, of Laurel was arrested June 28, 2008, after allegedly killing Sgt. Richard Findley of the Prince George's County Police Department by striking him with a stolen truck. White was found dead in his cell around 10:30 a.m. the next day. The state medical examiner's office ruled his injuries were consistent with homicide by strangulation.

Corrections officers allegedly told investigators that White had hung himself. The sheet White had allegedly used disappeared but was later produced, and a camera taken into the cell by doctors allegedly malfunctioned, leaving no record of the guards' response.

At the time, the jail's surveillance cameras could be used to monitor activity in the jail but could not record. The county has since spent $300,000 to upgrade the cameras so they could record and installed new cameras, including three of the cells for high-profile inmates such as the one where White was kept.

Ivey told members of the Prince George's County Council that he would not seek an indictment against the guards during a May 12 hearing, according to media reports.

"I'm not asking for one," Ivey said. "If I get something new that I think would add to [the case], I would."

An earlier grand jury that convened late in 2008 also adjourned without issuing an indictment after its term expired.

Ivey declined to confirm that he will not request an indictment from the second grand jury or elaborate on why no indictment was returned, saying the deliberations are subject to rules of secrecy.

Ivey also told the council that the Maryland State Police, which was leading the investigation in order to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, was wrapping up its investigation.

"Maryland State Police have done about all they're gonna do," Ivey said.

A state police spokesman referred questions about the investigation to Ivey's office. A justice department spokesman could not comment on the role of federal officials by press time.

E-mail Greg Holzheimer at gholzheimer@gazette.net.