Coroner amends death certificate of Jamal Sutherland and rules his death in custody a homicide, family says

The death certificate of Jamal Sutherland, who died earlier this year in a South Carolina jail while being forcibly removed from a cell by deputies, has been changed to say the manner of death is homicide, attorneys for his family told CNN on Tuesday.

Sutherland died on January 5 while in custody at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston.

CNN reached out to the coroner’s office Tuesday for comment on the family statement and has not heard back.

Family attorneys Mark A. Peper and Gary Christmas said Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal told them that after additional testing she thought Sutherland’s death was “best deemed to be homicide.”

An amended death certificate dated June 8 was issued, the attorneys said.

“The family reached this same conclusion immediately upon seeing the video of his death, thus they are pleased with the amended finding and remain steadfast in their pursuit of justice for Jamal,” Peper and Christmas said.

On May 11, County Solicitor Scarlett Wilson released a statement saying pathologist J.C. Upshaw Downs had listed Sutherland’s manner of death as undetermined.

“Dr. Downs opined, however, that Mr. Sutherland died ‘as a result of excited state with pharmacotherapeutic effect during subdual process,'” Wilson wrote. “He further stated that his review of the extrication process did not reveal any ‘unusual or excessive interactions or areas of direct concern.'”

Footage released May 12 by the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office shows deputies pepper spraying and tasing Sutherland, 31, multiple times after he appeared to resist leaving his cell for a bail hearing.

“What is the meaning of this?” Sutherland can be heard saying on video as deputies enter his cell and one tells him not to resist. After struggling with both deputies, a medic was seen asking to check Sutherland’s vitals.

“He got tased about probably six to eight times, at least,” one deputy tells the medic.

Wilson said Tuesday that when she first saw the video she thought Downs would rule Sutherland’s death a homicide and was surprised when he didn’t.

But, she said, neither Downs’ ruling nor the coroner’s as to the manner of death factors heavily into a potential criminal prosecution. Many cases go to trial even when the manner of death is listed as undetermined and some homicides are not crimes, she said.

Wilson previously sought a second opinion on the manner of Sutherland’s death. That pathologist is still looking into whether pharmacotherapeutic effect played a role in his death, she said Tuesday.

Wilson has said she will make a charging decision in the case “before the end of June.”

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office said Sgt. Lindsay Fickett and Detention Deputy Brian Houle were fired May 17.