Reynolds lawsuit settled out of court

Attorneys for Mark Reynolds and two former employees of the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Department settled a lawsuit Reynolds first filed in April 1999 after his father, Jackie Dean Reynolds, died after being in custody at the Law Enforcement Center in Sparta.

Under the agreement, which was being negotiated in mid-June, Reynolds’ attorneys were given $25,000, but the sheriff’s department maintains its lack of fault in the incident.

If the settlement had not been reached, the case had been scheduled to go to trial in October in a special session of Alleghany County Superior Court.

Details of the settlement were not released to the newspaper until earlier this week. A voluntary dismissal of the case against Michael Sawyers and D.R. “Donnie” Dickens was filed on June 29 by Reynolds’ attorneys.

“The situation involving Jackie Dean Reynolds was unfortunate to begin with and had an unfortunate end. However, I feel that the jail officers and the deputies handled this situation in the only way they could,” Sheriff Mike Caudill said in a brief interview on Tuesday. “If the same situation happened today, I feel that basically, we would have to handle it the same way.”

Caudill said lawyers for both sides reached the agreement. “Reynolds’ attorneys first asked us for $800,000,” said Caudill.

“It was our insurance company’s decision to settle this case due to the expense of another trial,” Caudill said. “Our lawyers estimated that it could cost upwards of one-half million dollars to try this case again.”

Those costs include paying expert witnesses, paying for attorney fees and other associated trial expenses.

Since the incident occurred, audio and video equipment has been installed in a special cell for disruptive prisoners to help limit the department’s liability, Caudill said. “While this may not deter future occurrences of this type, we will have the evidence we need to protect the county’s interest,” Caudill said.

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