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A federal judge has put a six-month hold on civil proceedings in a lawsuit centered on the 2019 death of John Neville. A trial has been continued until October 2023, according to an order filed Tuesday.

Sean Neville, John Nevilles son and the executor of his estate, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Sept. 28, 2021 against five former detention officers at the Forsyth County Jail, a former nurse at the jail, Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr., Forsyth County and WellPath LLC, the jails former medical provider.

Neville

The lawsuit alleges that the nurse and the detention officers ignored John Nevilles medical distress and that the detention officers had him pinned on his stomach, hands behind his back, for nearly an hour while he said numerous times that he could not breathe.

Neville died at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center on Dec. 4, 2019, three days after he was first brought to the Forsyth County Jail. Kimbrough did not publicly acknowledge Nevilles death until he was questioned by the Winston-Salem Journal six months later. News of Nevilles death prompted protests during the summer of 2020, resulting in 55 arrests, and a 49-day occupation of Bailey Park by Triad Abolition Project.

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In July 2020, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim ONeill announced charges of involuntary manslaughter against the nurse, Michelle Heughins, and the five detention officers Lt. Lavette Maria Williams, Cpl. Edward Joseph Roussel, Officer Sarah Elizabeth Poole, Officer Antonio Woodley Jr. and Officer Christopher Bryan Stamper. But in April, a Forsyth County grand jury declined to indict any of the detention officers.

Heughins, 46, was indicted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

A trial date on Heughins criminal charge has not been set. Her criminal defense attorneys have filed 12 different motions, including a motion to dismiss the indictment, that will likely be heard in early fall.

Sean Neville told the News & Observer that he holds all six defendants equally responsible for his fathers death.

Through his attorney, Richard Keshian, Sean Neville has declined any additional comments. Keshian could not be reached Wednesday for comment about the judges ruling.

Heughins and Wellpath are also the only remaining defendants in the pending wrongful death lawsuit after a $3 million settlement was reached with the detention officers, Forsyth County and Kimbrough. A trial had been set for the week of April 3, 2023. Attorneys for Heughins and Wellpath sought a delay of civil proceedings and asked for the trial to be continued.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles partially granted that request. She ruled that for the next six months, Heughins cannot be asked specifically about her role in Nevilles death, which would preserve, for now, her constitutional rights against self-incrimination while she is still facing a criminal charge.

But Eagles made clear that she would be opposed to any indefinite stay in civil proceedings or any more significant delays in the trial.

Given the nature of the plaintiffs claims, the plaintiff and the public have a substantial interest in the prompt resolution of this case and learning more about the relevant facts, Eagles wrote in her order. The Court also has an interest in prompt resolution and a firm trial date so it can manage scheduling of this and other matters with some degree of confidence.

On Dec. 1, 2019, Neville, 56, of Greensboro, was arrested by Kernersville police officers on an outstanding warrant for misdemeanor assault. The officers took him to the Forsyth County Jail. Twenty-four hours later, detention officers and Heughins went into Nevilles cell after his cellmate pushed a call button. Neville had fallen from his top bunk 4 feet from the floor after having seizure-like symptoms. He was found sweating with vomit on his clothes and blood around his mouth.

The lawsuit alleges that Heughins and the detention officers ignored Nevilles medical distress and failed to immediately send him to the hospital. He was pinned in his jail cell, placed in a restraint chair with handcuffs and ankle restraints and taken to a multipurpose room where Heughins tried a second time to get a pulse. Then, he was taken to another cell.

According to the lawsuit, officers had Neville get face down on a mattress in another cell on another floor while detention officers piled on top of him in an attempt to take off his handcuffs and ankle restraints.

The ankle restraints were removed and his legs were folded toward his buttocks. The detention officers broke one handcuff key and found that another one wouldnt work. They got a bolt cutter that also failed and then waited for another bolt cutter that did work. During that time, the lawsuit said, Neville told officers 30 times that he could not breathe.

By the time the handcuffs were removed, Neville had been in a prone position, sometimes referred to as a hog-tie position, for 12 minutes. Detention officers stripped Neville of his blue jumpsuit and left him alone in his cell. They went back in and started trying to save his life after Heughins noticed Neville wasnt breathing.

Nearly 20 minutes after Neville was first placed in the prone position, Heughins started CPR. He was revived several times, both at the jail and at the hospital, before he went into a coma.

An autopsy report said Neville died from a brain injury caused when his heart stopped and his brain was deprived of oxygen. He asphyxiated while being restrained with his arms behind his back and his legs folded.

Eagles pointed out that, by the time the civil case comes to trial in October 2023, Neville would have been dead four years.

Ms. Heughins has known for many months that she was facing criminal charges and civil claims over Mr. Nevilles death, she said. If she is not willing to waive her Fifth Amendment rights by December 2022, three years after Mr. Nevilles death, there is nothing to indicate she ever will. And if she will never waive her Fifth Amendment rights, then further delay serves little purpose.

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Former jail nurse's civil trial postponed as criminal case proceeds. She is charged in the 2019 death of John Neville. - Winston-Salem Journal