2 ex-deputies acquitted of manslaughter in stun gun death

DOWNTOWN SAVANNAH, GA- almost two days worth of deliberations resulted in a jury acquitting Jason Kenny, Maxine Evans and Gregory Brown of involuntary manslaughter charges in the case of Chatham County detention center inmate Mathew Ajibade’s death.

Chris Oladapo, Ajibade’s cousin, told NBC News that he was not surprised the officers were found not guilty of the top charge.

Kenny told investigators Ajibade was “combative” as jailers tried to strap him into the chair, but prosecutors said video from the Taser’s built-in camera showed otherwise.

The Nigerian then grabs the taser himself before a jailer’s kick to the head puts a sudden end to his efforts to fight back.

The video from January 1 included a more-than-one-minute clip showing a sheriff’s deputy using a stun gun on Ajibade multiple times near his groin while he was in his underwear, restrained and motionless in a chair. When deputies returned, Ajibade was dead. The coroner ruled Ajibade’s death a homicide by blunt-force trauma.

Former deputies Maxine Evans and Jason Kenny, along with Corizon Health Nurse Greg Brown, are the defendants in this trial, though Brown was acquitted of the involuntary manslaughter charge on Tuesday.

Brown was found guilty of making false statements to law enforcement.

No details of the sentences were immediately available.

When Evans was cross-examined by Assistant District Attorney Matt Breedon, she said that Ajibade had been checked five times, but that she “generated the log prematurely because I knew one had to be done …”

Nine deputies were fired in the aftermath of Ajibade’s death.

The family of Matthew Ajibade, who describe the incident as a bipolar episode, expressed frustration with the final verdicts handed down in Chatham County Superior Court. But instead of taking him to the hospital, they arrested him.

However, they arrested him and put him in restraints in a cell, alleging that he committed domestic offences, including battery and resisting arrest.

Three deputies were injured by Ajibade during the jail altercation, including a female sergeant who suffered a concussion and a broken nose, according to authorities. He was later found unresponsive in the chair, and subsequently pronounced dead.