Inset: Othel Moore Jr. Background: Moore in the final moments of his life as he’s restrained in a cart in a prison cell (Disparti Law Group).
Lawyers for the family of a prisoner who died in a maximum-security prison in Missouri after being pepper sprayed, covered with a spit hood and tied to a restraint cart released video of the man’s final moments as part of their wrongful death lawsuit against facility staff.
Othel Moore Jr., 38, died in December 2023 at the Jefferson City Correctional Facility, a prison about 130 miles west of St. Louis. A lawsuit by his family alleges prison staff stood by and watched as he struggled to breathe, ultimately subjecting him to a “de facto death sentence.”
“Rather than providing protection, these defendants collectively, and individually, saw to it that Moore suffered in the worst way possible before causing his death,” the lawsuit said. “The events were recorded on video and witnessed by many. This lawsuit seeks to expose the horrific circumstances surrounding Moore’s death and to hold accountable those responsible for his unwarranted, tragic, and preventable demise.”
The lawsuit names as defendants the director of the Missouri Department of Corrections, 14 prison employees — including the warden — and the prison’s health contractor.
Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections, declined to comment on the lawsuit but said in an email to Law&Crime that “the department has already taken appropriate action” in response to Moore’s death, including the use of body-worn cameras and discontinuing use of the restraint system Moore was placed in, after an internal investigation and an outside law enforcement investigation. Ten people involved in the incident were no longer employed by the department or its contractors, officials said.
Four prison staffers allegedly involved also face criminal charges in Moore’s death. Charges against a fifth defendant in the case have been dropped, Pojmann said.
The complaint spells out the allegations from the day Moore died on Dec. 8, 2023, as he was serving a 30-year prison sentence for second-degree domestic assault, first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and possession of a controlled substance. He died during a prison contraband search by a Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT), court documents said. He died during a prison contraband search by a Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT), court documents said.
In a Tuesday press conference announcing the release of the video, the attorney for Moore’s family, Andrew M. Stroth, called CERT a rogue unit. Guards sprayed Moore with pepper spray twice, improperly placed a spit mask and helmet over his face and head and shackled him to a cart and “ignored his struggle to breathe, and left him to slowly and painfully suffocate,” court documents said.
“So it started with an unconstitutional search and seizure,” Stroth said in the press conference. “It ended with Othel handcuffed, Othel, legs shackled. Othel, blood coming out of his mouth, spit mask placed over his head, a helmet forced over his head.”
The medical examiner ruled that Moore died from positional asphyxiation and classified it as a homicide, court documents said.
“Any one of the defendants could have put a stop to the inhuman treatment of Moore, but instead, they contributed to and otherwise stood idly by and watched him slowly and painfully gasp and fight for his last breath,” the lawsuit said.
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