The trial of the lone remaining defendant facing a misconduct charge in the death of Eugene Gruber, an inmate who was seriously injured in Lake County Jail in October 2011, is scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.
Former corrections officer Rodney Holmes is charged with official misconduct in connection with the death of Gruber, who suffered a broken neck in the jail on Halloween in 2011, according to officials, and died the following spring in a rehabilitation facility.
Defense attorney Douglas Roberts said Friday that Holmes has elected for a bench trial before Judge James Booras rather than a jury trial.
Gruber, a 51-year-old Grayslake resident, died from a spinal-cord injury allegedly suffered during a “takedown” maneuver in a shower area after he was sprayed with pepper spray for allegedly fighting correctional officers trying to process him into the jail.
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Gruber was in jail following an arrest on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass to property, authorities said.
Roberts said he believes all pretrial issues for Holmes have been completed, and the trial should begin Wednesday after previous delays.
“We’re ready to go,” he said.
A second former corrections officer facing the same charge, Robert Schlesser, of Round Lake Beach, died at age 49 in December 2014 of natural causes resulting from multiple blood clots in his lungs, according to McHenry County Coroner Dr. Anne Majewski.
The charge against Holmes, who is free on a $75,000 signature bond, is a class 3 felony carrying a sentencing range of two to five years in prison upon conviction but also may result in a probationary sentence.
Lake County Undersheriff Ray Rose said Holmes faces the charges because officers are “obligated to render aid” to injured inmates, and jail videotape “shows Holmes and Schlesser dragging (Gruber) down the hall with a broken neck.”
Roberts has asserted Holmes did nothing wrong and stressed he was not the officer who used the takedown maneuver on the inmate.
Holmes is being prosecuted by Charles Zalar from the Illinois appellate prosecutor’s office to avoid any appearance of conflict involving Lake county prosecutors.
As a result of Eugene Gruber’s death, Sheriff Mark Curran called for an administrative audit of the incident, which resulted in four terminations and disciplinary actions taken against 15 corrections officers, according to Rose. Holmes and Schlesser were among the officers terminated.
The firm that formerly provided medical care at the jail, Correct Care Solutions, was dismissed for its role in the death, according to county officials. At the time of the incident, a medical staff member checked on Gruber but allegedly told guards the inmate was faking an injury, officials said.
Although Gruber complained of a back injury, officials said he was dragged through a part of the jail to have his picture taken and to be fingerprinted.
In an unrelated case, authorities have not yet released results of an investigation into the death of a Lake County Jail inmate from Zion on March 4. Preliminary reports from the Lake County coroner’s office suggested natural causes.
David Butterfield, 36, was found unresponsive in a Lake County Jail cell. The Lake County Major Crimes Task Force is investigating the death as a matter of procedure, and Lake County sheriff’s office spokesman Christopher Covelli said Friday that investigation has not yet been finalized. Covelli said the task force is still awaiting final medical information that had been subpoenaed.
In the week following Butterfield’s death, officials at the coroner’s office said autopsy results point to a death from natural causes, specifically an advanced case of peritonitis, a condition in which stomach acid leaks into the abdomen.
“The pathologist said it more than likely that will be the cause,” Chief Deputy Coroner Orlando Portillo said at the time. “So far, everything appears it was natural causes. There was no trauma, nothing to indicate foul play or anything like that.”
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