An 11-month investigation by the Justice Department backed the federal Bureau of Prisons' conclusion that an inmate hanged himself in a supposedly suicide-proof cell, despite his family's claim he was killed by guards.
Now the family, which maintains Kenneth Michael Trentadue was beaten to death, hopes Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy will come to a different conclusion. Macy said he will investigate.The Justice Department on Thursday said it found no evidence that Trentadue was killed by guards and no evidence to refute the finding that Trentadue committed suicide.
"We followed every lead, and we investigated every allegation about potential misconduct by prison personnel in the death of Kenneth Trentadue," Isabelle Katz Pinzler, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement from Washington. "We concluded that the evidence does not support a federal prosecution."
The bureau said Trentadue, a 44-year-old bank robber awaiting a parole violation hearing, hanged himself with a braided bed sheet during a 20-minute period between bed checks in August 1995 at the Federal Transfer Center.
He died of "suicide by asphyxiation" and his many other injuries were self-inflicted, the bureau said.
The state medical examiner, Dr. Fred Jordan, had concluded that Trentadue was "very likely" murdered. Trentadue's family, including brother Jesse Trentadue of Salt Lake City, believes he was beaten to death by guards and says the government is trying to protect his killers. The family has pictures of him with bruises from head to toe.
"Hopefully, we'll get some justice someday," said Trentadue's widow, Carmen Trentadue.
Initially denied access to Trentadue's cell, Jordan was allowed to examine it in December 1995, four months after the death. Trentadue's family maintains the prison had inmates clean the cell on the day he died, destroying important evidence.
Jordan's investigators found evidence indicating there had been a bloody struggle in the cell, said Kevin Rowland, chief investigator for the state medical examiner.
Macy said he will ask the Justice Department in Washington for access to the testimony presented to the federal grand jury.
"A lot of questions remain about whether the death was a homicide or suicide," he said.
The family has sued the Bureau of Prisons, Justice Department and the FBI.