A coroner’s jury found that a 31-year-old jail inmate died of natural causes, Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston said Friday.
Livingston, who also holds the post of coroner, announced the jury’s finding on the Jan. 3 death of Brian Love Pence Jr. in a statement.
Pence was jailed at the Martinez Detention Facility after being arrested Dec. 31 on suspicion of misdemeanor spousal abuse. He had tested positive for COVID-19 during his jail intake and was put into a quarantine cell.
The sheriff’s office said in January that Pence was screened by county health services and cleared for incarceration.
About 1:22 p.m. Jan. 3, deputies conducting a check observed “no movement” from Pence. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The sheriff’s office said at the time there was no sign of trauma or anything suspicious.
The sheriff’s office policy is to investigate and hold an inquest any time there’s an in-custody death.
22 comments
We’ve investigated ourselves and found ourselves innocent. When something like this happens, regardless of what county, someone from another county or a federal agency should investigate it.
And no, I’m no bleeding heart liberal, nor do I have a beef with the Sheriff.
Absolutely, especially in a situation like this. It would seem like the sheriff also being the coroner would be a conflict of interest.
.
If Pence was a minority, Becton will likely ask State AG Bonta to review the incident.
.
If Pence was caucasian, Becton will likely by a round of drinks under the principle of “inclusion”.
.
Every officer involved death is investigated by Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office under the Officer Involved Fatal Incident Protocol AND by the law enforcement agency involved in the incident AND there is a Coroner’s Inquest that is open to the public. In addition the Coroner’s Inquest is handled by Private Attorney hired by the County and the 12 Jurors who decided the mode of death are selected from the regular jury pool. The Sheriff’s only involvement in the Coroner’s Inquest is to provide court security.
Where exactly is the conflict of interest?
.
There is no such thing as “mode” of death.
.
mode
noun
1.
a way or manner in which something occurs or is experienced, expressed, or done.
Merriam-Webster – Common Synonyms of Mode: manner, method, way.
.
Ignorant.
.
You need to educate yourself on the legal terms used by the M.E. on a death certificate.
.
Exit 12 you don’t even know what you don’t know.
The Inquest is non-binding and their finding does not appear on the death certificate.
Exit 12a,
https://tinyurl.com/yc2x663d
Cause of Death
On the basis of cause death can be classified as due to:
Diseases –natural deaths
Trauma or poisons –unnatural deaths
Manner of Death
It is important as has LEGAL consequences.
a. Homicide
i. Culpable -Murder or manslaughter
ii. Non culpable –Justified (judicial hanging) or excusable (self defense)
b. Suicide
c. Accident
d. Natural
Exit 12
I will even go further. I’ve been the subject of an Officer Involved Protocol Death Investigation where I’ve had my blood taken and interrogated under Maranda with an my Attorney, I’ve been an detective investigating an Officer Involved Protocol Death Investigation and I’ve been the Sergeant who initiated the Officer Involved Protocol Investigation.
I’ve been to autopsies, testified at homicide trials and a Coroner’s Inquest.
What exactly is your experience other than a google search?!?
Exit 12 please stop! You are embarrassing yourself and the rest of us.
By law in California, all deaths are categorized by one of four modes or manners of death: Natural Causes,
Suicide,
Accident
At the Hands of Another
Other Than By Accident.
Source: National Association of Medical Examiners, “A Guide For Manner Of Death Classification” First Edition, February 2002
I was wondering why he was still in jail for three days on a misdemeanor. He must not have checked the right boxes when he was arrested.
Maybe because it was a DV charge????? I think the rules are diff?????????????
The manner of death was stated as “natural”. The others are homicide, accident, suicide, undetermined, and pending.
.
What was the CAUSE of death as determined by the medical examiner?
.
What part of NATURN do you not understand?
It was not natural they said they assume it’s from a fatty liver causing sudden death. There was nothing else found. There was no alcohol or drugs in his system, his labs were perfect. If a fatty liver was on the verge of making someone that ill there would be signs. He was doing iron work, working 12 hour days at times in the Sun and raising 3 children and a very proactive loving father. Taking kids to football, taking kids to six flags, taking kids to birthday parties. A true family man. Someone so unhealthy would not be able to do a hard labor job and raise a family. Fatty liver, does not cause sudden death either by the way you’re more then welcome to look that up.
4 kids not 3*
They also found him dead under a jail cell bed which is very low to the ground. So he climbed under the bed and went to sleep and just died? With out asking for any help or experiencing any pain what do ever? At 31? Have you seen how low to the ground those beds are? That alone isn’t suspicious at all along with not being physically checks for hours?
During the fake trial, the only witnesses they had were the deputies on duty. The deputy said he seen he wasn’t moving and waited well over an hour to actually go into the cell to check on him. He was quarantined alone. The pathologist said there was bruising on his arms but claims she didn’t know if they were before or after death which with any manner of death you can determine by how the body was positioned. The judge asked if he checked to see if he was choking and the deputy also said he could not open his Mitch meaning rigor mortise had already began. Which also means he was dead for quite a while. The cause of death was from a fatty liver which does not cause sudden death. Obviously something else happened. They would not show any photo evidence during the trial. The family is looking to hire a private attorney and pursue a case. Brain was not even given an option to have a defense attorney to ask specific questions and fight for the truth. There was not a single person from an outside county or agency to over look to see what actually truly happened. Pray for true justice
What’s interesting is his family has 2 years worth of labs and health records from doctor appointments and every single lab was normal including his liver. The recent past 2 years. This is exactly why there should have been an attorney involved looking into this. Do you think the county is going to show that in court for over 2 years there was not a single sign of anything abnormal? Absolutely not because they are clearly covering something up. Especially considering Alameda county is all over the news for a woman deputy raping minorand two deputies covering up a suicide that happened under their watch in jail. I’m sure as soon as more people get involved and look over this case OUTSIDE of Contra Costa County, there’s going to be all sorts of information coming out. Another fun fact, apparently his camera was the only camera turned off in jail. Don’t you think that’s convenient for the deputies?
Comments are closed.