U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball issued a Memorandum Decision And Order on Tuesday in the case of the Estate of Madison Jody Jensen versus Duchesne County and other defendants. 21-year-old Madison Jensen was booked into Duchesne County Jail on November 27th, 2016 for internal possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. Four days later at 1:28pm on December 1st, Madison was found deceased in her cell. The next day on December 2nd, the Utah Medical Examiner determined the immediate cause of death to be cardiac arrhythmia from dehydration due to opiate withdrawal. At her death, Madison weighed 17 pounds less than when she was booked into Duchesne County Jail. Judge Kimball’s decision and order was in response to motions for summary judgement from the following defendants: Duchesne County; Sheriff (at the time) David Boren; jail’s commanding officer (at the time) Sergeant Jason Curry; jail staff (at the time) Elizabeth Richens, Hollie Purdy, Gerald J. Ross Jr., and Caleb Bird; Doctor Kennon Tubbs, and Nurse Jana Clyde. In the 36-page document, Judge Kimball outlines the background and timeline of each individual’s involvement with Madison as well as discussion of his determinations for each motion and instances where the individual testimonies of the defendants conflicted. Ultimately, the court granted Qualified Immunity to Boren and Curry as the jail supervisors, and Richens, Purdy, Ross Jr., and Bird as jail staff, meaning their Motions for Summary Judgements were each granted. The court, however, denied the motions from both medical personnel, Dr. Tubbs and Nurse Clyde. The court stated that it was yet to be determined whether or not Tubbs met the criteria for qualified immunity. The court also questioned whether Tubbs established and provided proper procedures and training to Nurse Clyde and therefore denied his motion for summary judgement. Likewise, the court ruled that summary judgement and qualified immunity were inappropriate for Nurse Clyde, stating that it is possible that “a reasonable jury could find Clyde was aware of Madison’s severe dehydration and disregarded the risk to her by not obtaining adequate treatment. The facts need to be presented to a jury,” concluded Judge Kimball, “and the jury can make credibility determinations.”
