SAN DIEGO (CN) — A jury in San Diego County found on Friday a nurse at the county’s women's jail not guilty of involuntary manslaughter after she left a woman, who later died, on the floor of her cell. The jury could not come to a verdict over whether a doctor who saw the woman earlier was liable for the woman’s death.
Dr. Friederike Von Lintig was the physician on duty at Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility, a 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 in 2019.
Danalee Pascua, a nurse at the facility, witnessed Serna's fall while she attempted to take Serna's vital signs.
Both Pascua and Von Lintig were charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter.
A hung jury forces a mistrial in Von Lintig’s case, but she could be tried again.
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 was dehydrated, and had collapsed in her cell after a seizure.
Serna was in custody for five days.
In 2022, the California state auditor found 185 people died in San Diego County jails from 2006 to 2020, one of the highest rates of inmate deaths in the state.
The same year, a report by the San Diego Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board found that excess deaths "only appear among those who have not yet been sentenced."
In 2023, 13 people died in the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
Serna's family is also pursuing a civil lawsuit in federal court against San Diego County and a number of other defendants, including Von Lintig and Pascua over claims of deliberate indifference to medical needs, negligence, failure to properly train, failure to properly supervise and discipline, wrongful death and other claims. The family is seeking damages after a jury trial.
A spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney's office declined to comment.
Attorneys for both Von Lintig and Pascua did not immediately return requests for comment.
A status hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday morning.
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