BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — The West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled in April 2022 that the death of a 37–year-old man who died at Southern Regional Jail in March 2022 was a homicide.
The information contradicts records West Virginia Department of Homeland Security provided to the public on November 15, 2022, in which Burks’ death is listed as a natural death.
59News became aware of the discrepancy in early September, after obtaining a copy of Burks’ autopsy report.
Eight former Southern Regional Jail employees — officers Andrew Fleshman, Nicholas Wimmer, Ashley Toney, Jacob Boothe, Mark Holdren, Cory Snyder and Johnathan Walters, and Lt. Chad Lester — have been charged in connection with Burks’ death.
Federal prosecutors allege a group of officers handcuffed Burks and led him to unmonitored rooms around the facility to beat him while he was handcuffed and then conspired with one another to falsify officials records and lie to federal investigators to cover up the death.
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Four of the officers have entered guilty pleas to various charges, including conspiracy and watching officers beat Burks without intervening to help him.
On Burks’ autopsy report, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner W. Ashton Ennis, M.D. wrote that the cause of Burks’ death was due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease, hardening arteries, obesity and blunt impact injury.
“The death followed blunt impact injuries to the head, torso, and extremities, which occurred during a confrontation with correctional facility guards in the setting of abundant natural disease,” Ennis stated, ruling Burks’ death a homicide.
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59News filed a federal Freedom of Information Act request with West Virginia Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 2, 2022, asking for records of inmates who had died at Southern Regional Jail between 2018 and November 2022, including the cause and manner of death.
On November 15, 2022, 59News received an emailed response, with the official seals of West Virginia Division of Corrections Interim Commissioner Brad Douglas and West Virginia Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeff Sandy, along with a list which purported to show data from the requested records.
The records provided to 59News showed one death at Southern Regional on March 1, 2022, the day Burks died.
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WVDHRS records showed the cause of death was “heart disease” and listed the manner of death as “natural.”
Governor Jim Justice fired Douglas in 2023, along with WVDHS general counsel Phil Sword, after Southern District of West Virginia Magistrate Judge Omar Aboulhosn wrote in court documents in October 2023 that their handling of records in a civil suit regarding inhumane conditions at Southern Regional Jail was a “dereliction of duty.”
The WVDHS paralegal who provided the records to 59News under the FOIA request declined to be interviewed on Friday, September 13, 2024, and said that she is not a spokesperson for WVDHS.
She said that she receives records from agencies and prepares responses to FOIA requests but does not prepare the records kept by the agencies.
West Virginia Division of Corrections is a sub-agency of WVDHS.
West Virginia Department of Homeland Security officials had not immediately responded to a request for comment by Friday afternoon.
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An attorney for the Burks family, Stephen P. New of Beckley, said on Friday, “My only comment is that DHS should not have commented a ‘natural’ death when the autopsy report shows ‘homicide.’”
Another section of Burks’ autopsy, titled “Circumstances of Death,” states that Beckley Police Department officers had called the jail on Feb. 28, 2022, the day Burks was arrested, to state they were “bringing a {sic} uncooperative male in.”
The section states that Burks was cooperative with Southern Regional staff when being booked and details that Burks had high blood pressure and was seen at the on-site jail medical center which was contracted by Prime Care Medical West Virginia in 2022.
“During the time {Burks} was being treated by the medical staff, he stated that the Beckley Police Officers ‘whooped him pretty good’ the day before,” officials stated in the autopsy report.
In the section, officials wrote that Burks had hallucinations the next morning and became uncooperative with corrections officer, who struggled with him.
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Official wrote in the section that Burks then declined medical care when Southern Regional officers took him to the medical center and that he went “limp” as officers walked him to a “lock down” room that guards kept him from falling and that he collapsed after walking about 50 feet.
The section notes that Burks had swelling to his head, contusions and multiple other injuries but states, “SRJ staff had no record if the contusions was {sic} there before today’s incident.”
The account in Burks’ autopsy contradicts the official public statement of West Virginia Department of Homeland Security officials released on March 1, 2022, hours after Burks had died.
WVDHS officials told the public that Burks “was combative both during the admission process and later that evening” on Feb. 28, 2022.
“He was again combative around 10 a.m. the following morning, assaulting multiple staff while attempting to force his way out of the section.”
Beckley Police Department staff released video of Burks’ arrest to 59News in May 2023.
Officers appeared to struggle briefly with Burks, who did not want to be placed in handcuffs or in the police car.
Later, Burks quietly walked, handcuffed, from a police car into Southern Regional Jail and did not appear to be injured.
An attorney for the Burks’ family said it was highly unlikely that interaction with BPD officers had caused serious injuries.
Attorney New has said medical records show Burks should have been transferred to a local hospital for treatment of extremely high blood pressure, first when he was admitted and, later, after Prime Care staff checked his blood pressure several times and noted it was dangerously high.
Burks’ family members have said Burks was calling for medical help when he used an intercom button and tried to exit a section of the jail, prompting the alleged beatings by jail staff.
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New has alleged in a civil lawsuit that Prime Care nurses conspired with corrections officers to help cover up Burks’ death and that they did not provide medical care, did not alert officers of Burks’ condition, did not file of a required form to report the use of force by officers on a patient and that one nurse suggested Burks be injected with insulin as a way of explaining his death.
The nurse has denied the allegation.
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