Quadraplegic dies in DC Jail

[Guest Vitamin X]

Quadriplegic Serving 10-Day Sentence For First-Time Marijuana

Charge Dies In DC Jail

    Washington, DC:  A 27-year-old quadriplegic man sentenced to serve ten

days in a Washington, DC jail on charges that he possessed a minor amount

of marijuana died while in custody last week due to inadequate health

care, including prison officials' failure to provide him with a

ventilator.

    The victim, Jonathan Magbie, had been paralyzed from the neck down

since the age of four, was unable to breath on his own, and required

nursing care 20 hours a day.

    Magbie was sentenced to spend ten days in jail on September 20, 2004

after pleading guilty to one charge of marijuana possession.  Though

prosecutors had recommended probation, the judge in the case ordered

Magbie to serve jail time - noting that the defendant had told

pre-sentence investigators that he would continue using marijuana because

it made him feel better.

    NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup called Magbie's death "one of

the most tragic results of marijuana prohibition I have witnessed in the

35-year history of the organization."

    He concluded: "Although Jonathan Magbie died from causes currently

under investigation, it is clear that his death was the result of the

overly punitive laws criminalizing the use and possession of marijuana.

There is little doubt that were it not for marijuana prohibition, Jonathan

Magbie would still be alive today.  He did not deserve to die for smoking

marijuana."

    For more information, please contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive

Director, at (202) 483-5500.  To read The Washington Post's coverage of

this incident, please visit:

http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread19578.shtml.

    To read NORML's response, please visit:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6279

[Guest MikeSC]

This, of course, gets filed under "tough shit".

-=Mike

[snuffbox 0]

The city of DC never shocks me...a town where you can clearly see the Capitol Building just up the street from a nasty ghetto.

[Guest MikeSC]

The city of DC never shocks me...a town where you can clearly see the Capitol Building just up the street from a nasty ghetto.

Well, looking at the city of DC, you see why Congress removed the power of the local gov't.

 

Man, does that city have NO ability to govern itself.

-=Mike

[snuffbox 0]

The city of DC never shocks me...a town where you can clearly see the Capitol Building just up the street from a nasty ghetto.

Well, looking at the city of DC, you see why Congress removed the power of the local gov't.

 

Man, does that city have NO ability to govern itself.

-=Mike

Obviously.

 

It is pretty embarrassing that our nation's capital seems to be about 75% slum.

[Guest MikeSC]

The city of DC never shocks me...a town where you can clearly see the Capitol Building just up the street from a nasty ghetto.

Well, looking at the city of DC, you see why Congress removed the power of the local gov't.

 

Man, does that city have NO ability to govern itself.

-=Mike

Obviously.

 

It is pretty embarrassing that our nation's capital seems to be about 75% slum.

Even worse, being nailed for smoking crack with a hooker might actually be a BOOST to one's career.

-=Mike

[Guest BDC]

The city of DC never shocks me...a town where you can clearly see the Capitol Building just up the street from a nasty ghetto.

Well, looking at the city of DC, you see why Congress removed the power of the local gov't.

 

Man, does that city have NO ability to govern itself.

-=Mike

Obviously.

 

It is pretty embarrassing that our nation's capital seems to be about 75% slum.

Even worse, being nailed for smoking crack with a hooker might actually be a BOOST to one's career.

-=Mike

As Tommy Davidson once said of Marion Berry:

 

"I've never done drugs, never known anyone whose done drugs, never been in the same room or even hotel as anyone that's done drugs."

 

What did he say afterwards?

 

"Um, so I did a little drugs, so what?"

[The Metal Maniac 0]

died while in custody last week due to inadequate health

care, including prison officials' failure to provide him with a

ventilator.

 

I don't care what the fuck he's in prison for. You can't just lock up cripples and deny them the things they need to, you know, LIVE.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That's the part that pissed me off the most. That, and the fact he died while serving a FUCKING MARIJUJANA POSSESSION CHARGE. Even if it's dubious that of the guy needed a ventilator why should he have been smoking the stuff in the first place, it's still silly to be locked up and not being given adequate care, especially since he was also a quadraplegic.

 

Honestly, would anyone here have felt any safer knowing that dastardly paralyzed marijuana smoker was in jail?

[Guest BDC]

Don't get me wrong, I think that this is pure garbage and that criminal charges can easily be filed. However, it's merely a sad reflection on so much of DC.

[snuffbox 0]

DC is grand...electing crackhead mayors...but the police force will lock up a quadriplegic for a small amount of marijuana. Then allow said handicapped person to die.

 

DC is like all the worst aspects of Harlem combined with the Mall full of shitty tourists...ugh.

[Special K 0]

I don't think this will get filed under 'tough shit' I think it may be filed under 'manslaughter'.

[Guest MikeSC]

I don't think this will get filed under 'tough shit' I think it may be filed under 'manslaughter'.

Hardly. You have to stretch to even say the authorities did anything wrong.

 

As somebody else here pointed out, why the hell is he smoking pot if he needs a ventilator?

-=Mike

[Special K 0]

It's reckless disregard for human life.

 

He was paralyzed from the neck down. hence, he needed a machine to breath for him. Hence a ventilator. The signals from his brain to his lungs were either severed or greatly weakened.

[Guest MikeSC]

It's reckless disregard for human life.

Hardly. It's a prison system not having infinite resources.

He was paralyzed from the neck down. hence, he needed a machine to breath for him. Hence a ventilator. The signals from his brain to his lungs were either severed or greatly weakened.

And he smoked pot how?

-=Mike

...No chance of THAT causing him problems...

[snuffbox 0]

Sounds like stpidity on all counts...

 

If you need a ventilator, you shouldnt be smoking anything...and law enforcement shouldnt be refusing peoples medical necessities...

 

The whole thing just reeks of DC.

[NoCalMike 0]

The fact that he was even sentenced to jail time is enough alone to question the sanity of the judge, and the fact that he wasn't provided with a machine that you know, kept him breathing, should result in criminal charges.

 

Are you telling me the judge couldn't have reversed his decision upon finding out the jail was not equipped to accomodate a quadriplegic.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

And he smoked pot how?

-=Mike

...No chance of THAT causing him problems...

 

He was still alive when he was smoking pot.

 

Hardly. It's a prison system not having infinite resources.

 

I think there's just a *slight* difference between "infinite" resources, and the basic requirements needed to keep a person alive.

 

If the prison could not keep him alive, he should not have been there. Of course, that's not to say that he should not have been charged - merely that if they were going to put a paralyzed person behind bars, they should have done it in a place which had the proper equipment to allow the man to BREATHE.

[Jingus 0]

The entire argument over marijuana is incidental. It's just a distraction from the real issue: that a completely paralyzed man died in custody because the police were either unable or unwilling to provide him with the medical care needed to keep him alive. That is unacceptable and wrong.

[Guest CronoT]

I don't think this will get filed under 'tough shit' I think it may be filed under 'manslaughter'.

Hardly. You have to stretch to even say the authorities did anything wrong.

 

As somebody else here pointed out, why the hell is he smoking pot if he needs a ventilator?

-=Mike

I really don't want to flame-bait, but it seems like I have no other choice...

 

You know, Mike, there are such things as "Hospital Prisons." If you were as smart as you tell everyone you are, you would have known that.

 

Here's the sentencing guidelines for Maryland. You can look for it in there, since I don't really feel like it: http://www.msccsp.org/guidelines/manual_03.html

 

[EDIT]-Also, Mike, some people who are terminally ill or are so fucked up physically are usually in so much pain, that it takes a shitload of drugs to take it away. When I blew out my knee about a year ago, the Dr. prescribed me some ibuprophen that was three times stronger than the OTC stuff, and it was still pretty sensitive to pain. Why don't you stop and think about other people's suffering every once in a while, huh?

[Highland 0]

The judge will of course be commended for this, since he took a vile pot smoker off the streets for good, though he should be charge with negligence causing death, or manslaughter.

[Guest MikeSC]

The fact that he was even sentenced to jail time is enough alone to question the sanity of the judge, and the fact that he wasn't provided with a machine that you know, kept him breathing, should result in criminal charges.

 

Are you telling me the judge couldn't have reversed his decision upon finding out the jail was not equipped to accomodate a quadriplegic.

And that he could smoke pot WHILE using a ventilator has a weird stink to it.

I really don't want to flame-bait, but it seems like I have no other choice...

 

You know, Mike, there are such things as "Hospital Prisons." If you were as smart as you tell everyone you are, you would have known that.

Which, shockingly enough, does not exactly explain how somebody on a ventilator CAN BE SMOKING POT.

 

Quite frankly, if you smoke while on a ventilator and die --- look in the mirror, you fucking moron.

[EDIT]-Also, Mike, some people who are terminally ill or are so fucked up physically are usually in so much pain, that it takes a shitload of drugs to take it away. When I blew out my knee about a year ago, the Dr. prescribed me some ibuprophen that was three times stronger than the OTC stuff, and it was still pretty sensitive to pain. Why don't you stop and think about other people's suffering every once in a while, huh?

This is me REALLY not caring. The fucker did something fucking stupid and fucking died from it.

 

You on a ventilator? DON'T FUCKING SMOKE, ASSHOLE.

-=Mike

[NoCalMike 0]

The fact that he was even sentenced to jail time is enough alone to question the sanity of the judge, and the fact that he wasn't provided with a machine that you know, kept him breathing, should result in criminal charges. 

 

Are you telling me the judge couldn't have reversed his decision upon finding out the jail was not equipped to accomodate a quadriplegic.

And that he could smoke pot WHILE using a ventilator has a weird stink to it.

I really don't want to flame-bait, but it seems like I have no other choice...

 

You know, Mike, there are such things as "Hospital Prisons." If you were as smart as you tell everyone you are, you would have known that.

Which, shockingly enough, does not exactly explain how somebody on a ventilator CAN BE SMOKING POT.

 

Quite frankly, if you smoke while on a ventilator and die --- look in the mirror, you fucking moron.

[EDIT]-Also, Mike, some people who are terminally ill or are so fucked up physically are usually in so much pain, that it takes a shitload of drugs to take it away. When I blew out my knee about a year ago, the Dr. prescribed me some ibuprophen that was three times stronger than the OTC stuff, and it was still pretty sensitive to pain. Why don't you stop and think about other people's suffering every once in a while, huh?

This is me REALLY not caring. The fucker did something fucking stupid and fucking died from it.

 

You on a ventilator? DON'T FUCKING SMOKE, ASSHOLE.

-=Mike

I am not sure what you are getting at. He wasn't smoking AT THE TIME OF DEATH. He didn't die from smoking. How about we demand our judges be able to use common sense?

[Guest MikeSC]

How about you prove any ACTUAL negligence?

-=Mike

[EricMM 0]

Ok, he DIED.

 

If he had had his ventilator he apparently wouldn't have.

 

Dar.

 

Oh, and stop ragging on D.C. people. We have free museums. About native Americans. And an ok subway system. And the 9:30 club...

 

*EDIT* And all of Georgetown!!!

[snuffbox 0]

DC does have a stellar subway system...

 

But those free museums, while indeed very nice, are plagued by swarms of horribly annoying tourist locusts.

[EricMM 0]

True, when we went to go see the brand new Native American Indian etc. museum, we couldn't GET IN (too crowded) but we did see the Sculpture museum, and walked around an Art Gallery...

 

Bought some native American food (Not Buffalo )

 

D.C.'s more than just crack heads and ghettos! It's people from MD who aren't from Baltimore and always have to say "D.C." when people ask where they're from

[NoCalMike 0]

How about you prove any ACTUAL negligence?

-=Mike

[Guest SP-1]

This is extraordinarily wrong. Jingus is right on this. A pot charge isn't a death sentence, nor should it be. This man didn't have to die for that. This man shouldn't have died like this. It's inexcusable.

[NoCalMike 0]

This is extraordinarily wrong. Jingus is right on this. A pot charge isn't a death sentence, nor should it be. This man didn't have to die for that. This man shouldn't have died like this. It's inexcusable.

Wow a christian, sounding Christian........there is hope afterall.....

 

this rounds on me SP