Estate of Belden v. Brown County

Atcheson, J.:

On August 14, 2002, Jeffrey Ray Belden'died by his own hand while in custody at the Brown County jail. Belden had been held there for about 7 weeks awaiting trial. He was 21 years old. Over the past decade, Belden’s heirs and his estate, suing through Belden’s mother Marie Gaston, have pursued civil litigation against Brown County, the county sheriff, and several jail employees on the basis they failed to take legally required precautions that would have prevented the suicide. The litigation started in federal court and asserted federal constitutional and state tort claims. After…