On the last day of 2018, the Mineral County commissioners met with counsel to discuss a settlement agreement in regards to Kelly Coltrain, a 27-year-old woman who died while jailed at the Mineral County Detention Center in July of 2017.
The recessed meeting was conducted in closed session pursuant to Nevada Revised Statute 241.015(2)(b)(2).
After discussion with legal counsel in closed session, the commissioners reopened the meeting and made the following, “Motion to approve the proposed agreement reached at the settlement conference Dec. 13 at Federal District Court under Judge McQuaid and to have our legal counsel from POOL/PACT prepare and sign as representative of Mineral County Commissioners on the matter of James Coltrain, et al., v. Mineral County, et al, case number 3:18-cv-00420.” The motion was made by outgoing commissioner Jerrie Tipton.
There was no public comment from those in attendance.
The story of Kelly made national headlines when released at the end of August, 2018. She had been arrested by Walker River Tribal Police after failing to take care of traffic tickets in Clark County in July of 2017. She was booked into the Mineral County facility. Upon booking, Kelly refused to answer questions regarding her medical history but after being informed that she would not be able to make bail, Kelly informed then detention sergeant that she was dependent of drugs and had a history of seizures when she withdraws.
Kelly spent three days in her jail cell where she ate and drank little and remained in her bunk.
On July 23, 2017 at 12:30 a.m. the young woman was found unresponsive in her cell by the night shift jailer. He then notified his supervisors. The Washoe County Medical Examiner would rule the young woman’s death as “accidental, caused by complications of drug use.” Toxicology showed that she was positive for heroin in her system.
The lawsuit for Kelly was brought forward by attorneys Terri Keyser-Cooper and Kerry Doyle, claiming a wrongful death lawsuit stating that the sheriff’s office ignored Kelly’s life-threatening medical condition “despite knowing that she was suffering from withdrawals and had a history of seizures.” These lawyers feel that her medical condition was treatable and her death preventable.
It is unknown at this time what the outcome of the settlement will be. The Independent-News reached out to Mineral County District Attorney Sean Rowe who was unavailable for comment on the subject.
