Judge James F. Bass issued a directed verdict Tuesday afternoon, acquitting Gregory Brown on the charge of involuntary manslaughter.
All other counts will proceed to defense arguments after the state rested its case this morning.
The decision comes after the lead investigator in the case Monday testified the wrong policy had been used to indict the nurse.
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The Judge acquitted Matthew Ajibade’s nurse of involuntary manslaughter. Brown was accused of not properly monitoring the 22-year-old college student before his death in a Savannah, Georgia jail. Two former deputies are on trial, in addition to jail nurse Gregory Brown, for the incident which included the cops tasing Ajibade while restrained and barely conscious.
Evidence presented in the Mathew Ajibade case reveals a major mistake by investigators.
Two former deputies and a jail nurse are on trial, and it was testimony by a GBI investigator that may be a game changer for one of the defendants.
For months, investigators have said nurse Gregory Brown did not check on Ajibade, who was strapped into a restraint chair, every 15-minutes; but now, the lead investigator admits 15-minutes was the wrong policy.
Who gave him that information, raises serious questions about how Ajibade’s death has been investigated.
Some Background on the case:
Mathew Ajibade died alone in an isolation cell, bound by the hands and feet, strapped into a restraint chair.
He had been brutally beaten, his body covered with bruises and abrasions. There were scrapes and bumps on his upper body and head, the result of being repeatedly punched and kicked by his jailers. Minutes later, secured and compliant in a special unit, a Taser was pressed directly into his genitals. Hit with 50,000 volts, the young man is heard on video obtained by NBC News screaming in pain.
Ajibade was a 22-year-old “geeky” college student who had come to Savannah to study computer science. The county coroner ruled his death a homicide, citing blunt force trauma. As Ajibade took his last breath, still strapped into a restraint chair, police allegedly falsified logbooks and failed to monitor him. The people who were bound to protect him, to ensure his safety, now stand accused of killing him.
It has been 10 months since his death first captured national headlines, 10 months since the lies began. For 10 months, the Ajibade family has been fighting for the truth. They never believed the official story and, it appears, they were right.
Nine Chatham County sheriff’s deputies have been fired after a probe conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Two former deputies and a jailhouse nurse were indicted on charges last June that included involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to an inmate, and public records fraud. They are now on trial, facing a jury of their peers and forced to defend the indefensible.
Ajibade was diagnosed with bipolar disorder three years ago, according to his family, and was having a medical emergency at the time of his arrest on New Year’s Day. When police, responding to a domestic violence call, arrived that evening, his girlfriend told them about his mental health issues and even gave the officers a bottle of his medication. Instead of a health care facility, Ajibade was taken to the county lock-up. Hours later, he was dead.
Police say he became “combative” during the booking process and they allege that he began fighting with deputies. An incident report says three deputies were injured in the tussle. Ajibade was hit with the Taser multiple times and then taken to an isolation unit, where he supposedly continued to fight the deputies. Jail employees say they found him unresponsive some hours later, around 1:38 a.m., still strapped to the restraint chair in the cell and still wearing the spit mask they had placed over his face.
Source: WSAV3/Daily Beast/NBC News
