SAN DIEGO (CN) — A physician and a nurse will face involuntary manslaughter charges after a judge found probable cause to try them for the 2019 in-custody death of a San Diego woman.
Friederike Von Lintig was the physician on duty at Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility, San Diego’s women’s jail, when Elisa Serna died in her cell in the jail's medical observation unit after she struck her head and fell.
Danalee Pascua, a nurse at the facility, witnessed Serna's fall while she attempted to take the woman's vital signs through the food flap in the cell door.
Pascua and a deputy at the facility went into Serna’s cell, but left without moving her after she didn’t respond to their commands. An hour later, Pascua and other deputies went back into Serna’s cell, where she was pronounced dead.
The 24-year-old Serna, who had been booked in the jail on suspicion of theft and drug charges days earlier, was pregnant, suffering from drug withdrawal, and complained of vomiting, nausea and fainting. An investigation by the San Diego County Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board released in 2021 found that Serna had pneumonia and dehydration, and had collapsed in her cell after a seizure,
Prosecutors say Pascua and Von Lintig were criminally negligent because they did not respond adequately to Serna’s symptoms and her medical needs.
“Almost nothing was done,” Deputy District Attorney John Dunlap said at the close of a preliminary hearing at San Diego’s East County Superior Court in El Cajon on Friday. “It was a complete lack of humanity and lack of care.”
Prosecutors say Von Lintig and Pascua accused Serna of faking her symptoms. Dunlap said it was Von Lintig’s duty to figure out what was medically wrong with her, especially because Serna told intake staff at the jail that she had a history of alcohol and drug use and was at risk of having complications from withdrawal.
“The people who took an oath to care for her did little to next to nothing,” Dunlap said.
Dana Grimes, Von Lintig's attorney, argued Serna’ death was caused by a “system of negligence” in the county jails. Grimes claimed that her client received inadequate information about inmates from the jail physician who was on duty before Von Lintig the day Serna died.
“We have to mean more by criminal negligence than a medical mistake,” Grimes said.
Both Von Lintig and Pascua pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges.
“[I’m] Excited that we’re getting closer and closer to the justice that’s owed to Elisa,” said Paloma Serna, Elisa’s mother, after the hearing.
Both Paloma and Michael Serna, Elisa’s father, drove to San Diego from Billings, Montana, to attend the week long pretrial hearing in El Cajon.
Members of the North County Equity and Justice Coalition, Showing Up for Racial Justice, and other local activist groups, and family members of people who have died in custody in other county jails in Southern California showed up to support the Serna family and participate in a rally outside the courthouse on June 26.
“It’s not just a victory for Elisa, it’s a victory for over 200 others,” Michael Serna said after Judge Selena Epley found probable cause to try Von Lintig and Pascua.
Last year, the California State Auditor released a report that found 185 people died in San Diego County jails from 2006 to 2020, one of the highest rates of inmate deaths in county jails in the state. There have been eight in-custody deaths this year alone according to the Sheriff's Department’s own count.
The Sernas said they are working on making a banner that includes all people who’ve died in local county jails.
Paloma Serna said she hopes getting the case to trial opens the door to more accountability in the San Diego County jail system, and the possibility that more families can hold accountable the people who caused the deaths of their loved ones in jails.
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