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A Vermont judge has ruled against an inmate charged with murder who had been seeking release from prison over claims that the state Department of Corrections was not prepared to combat the spread of the coronavirus or treat inmates infected with it.
“The possibility that Defendant may contract COVID-19 in the facility does not constitute medical indifference,” Judge John Treadwell wrote in a 44-page decision released Tuesday afternoon denying the release from prison of 73-year-old Frank Sanville.
“The record reflects the substantial steps the Department and its contracted healthcare provider have taken to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infections occurring and to appropriately respond to COVID-19 positive or symptomatic patients,” the ruling stated. “These steps are not medical indifference.”
The judge added, “Defendant has not established that his substantive due process rights have been violated through medical indifference.”
Sanville’s bail review case was consolidated with many other cases in which inmates were raising arguments over the corrections department and its ability to address the coronavirus.
Hearings in the case took place over several days late last month and featured many witnesses, including medical experts, corrections officials and prison leaders, as well as inmates.
Sanville was charged in March 2018 with murder and other offenses in the fatal shooting of wife, Wanda Sanville, in Royalton. He has been held without bail since arraignment on the charges. Sanville has been incarcerated at the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.
However, how much precedent Treadwell’s ruling in Sanville’s case will have on other cases remains an open question.
Former Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill, who is a prosecutor in the Sanville murder case, wrote in an email Tuesday that it appeared other defendants could still make further arguments.
“I am not a spokesperson for the Judicial Branch; however, it appears that the other defendants would be entitled to present further arguments that are case-specific,” Cahill wrote.
Cahill, though he has stepped down as the state’s attorney in Windsor County, had told his successor he would continue to assist with two pending homicide cases in the county, including the Sanville one.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office assisted in Sanville’s defense, said Tuesday that the ruling appeared to be specific to Sanville.
“One of things that Judge Treadwell did in the case was to distinguish Sanville’s particular situation from many others,” he said. “Others will go forward with their case based upon their physical conditions and what treatment they had received or had not been receiving.”
Valerio added, “Basically, there is a finding as to this particular guy.”
The defender general also said that he understood the Sanville case was a particularly hard one to prevail on and gain his release on bail given that the charge against him was murder.
James Baker, interim corrections commissioner, said Tuesday that he knew going into the case that the corrections department’s protocols and systems put in place to address the coronavirus were going to be tested and judged.
“There continue to be people that ask questions about what we’re doing, questioning if we’re doing it right,” Baker said, adding, “From what I see, I think the judge took note of the substantial work that’s been done by the corrections staff to manage this unprecedented pandemic.”
Treadwell’s decision recaps some of the testimony and arguments raised in the multi-day bail hearing.
Experts and inmates called on behalf of Sanville spoke of problems they saw in the corrections department’s ability to respond to the coronavirus behind bars, and failings they saw with corrections staff in consistently carrying out the protocols set out.
Witnesses for the prosecution, including superintendents of prisons in the state as well as from the medical director of Centurion, the provider contracted by the corrections department, described the work they have done to address the spread of Covid-19, as well as efforts to correct missteps in following the protocols when they occurred. Prisons have conducted testing of inmates and segregated inmates with Covid.
Attorneys for Sanville also contend that due to his age he was particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus in prison. Cahill, for the prosecution, countered that releasing Sanville came with risks to public safety, particularly to witnesses in his case.
A total of 45 inmates and 19 correctional staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, with all but one of those positive test results coming from the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans. The other positive test result was from a staff member at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport.
Most of the inmates who have tested positive were taken to the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury, which had been set up a “surge” site to house inmates across the correctional system who have tested positive for the coronavirus until they recover.
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Read the story on VTDigger here: Judge rules Covid-19 outbreak not a reason to release murder suspect.
