The family of a Utah prison inmate whose brutal murder was captured on videotape has filed a $7 million lawsuit against Corrections officials.
According to the suit, at least eight corrections officers looked on and did nothing as inmate Troy Kell stabbed Lonnie Blackmon 67 times "until he was dead."Blackmon's heirs, Paul L. Blackmon, Minnie Blackmon, Codi Blackmon, Latrese Blackmon and Nora Blackmon, filed suit in U.S. District Court two days after a jury recommended that Kell, 29, receive the death penalty for the murder.
Kell, who was already serving two life sentences for a prior homicide, will be sentenced Aug. 1.
The suit names as defendants O. Lane McCotter, executive director of corrections; Fred Van Der Veur, warden of the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison; and 26 other prison personnel.
Blackmon, 32, was transferred from an Arkansas prison to the Gunnison facility in January 1994 after agreeing to drop a lawsuit against Arkansas. He was serving a 16-year sentence for aggravated burglary.
His family's lawsuits says Blackmon, a black, was placed in a tier that housed violent inmates who had "openly declared their allegiance to the `Aryan Nation.' "
On July 6, 1994, guards handcuffed Blackmon and left him in a common area of the tier, where he was attacked. The suit alleges the guard fled the area, leaving Blackmon handcuffed and defenseless.
"While corrections officers watched and videotaped Blackmon's murder, they had at their disposal a high pressure water hose, tear gas and a shot gun," the suit said.
The guards could have stopped the assault and saved Blackmon's life without jeopardizing the safety of others but did nothing until a SWAT team was assembled and deployed, the suit said. Under Utah law, the guards would have been justified in the use of deadly force, it added.
"Defendants acted with deliberate indifference to a serious threat of substantial harm in failing to train (corrections) officers in the techniques of quelling inmate attacks," the suit said.
The heirs say the actions or lack of action on the part of corrections officials violated Blackmon's constitutional rights of due process and against cruel and unusual punishment.
They seek $2 million in special and compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.
Utah corrections officials were not available for comment.