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CHARLES JONES, as personal representative of the
estate of Wade Jones,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN, et al.,
Defendants,
MELISSA FURNACE, CHAD RICHARD GOETTERMAN, and
JAMES AUGUST MOLLO, jointly and severally,
Defendants-Appellants. |
No. 23-1866 |
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids.
No. 1:20-cv-00036—Hala Y. Jarbou, District Judge.
Argued: June 13, 2024
Decided and Filed: August 16, 2024
Before: GILMAN, STRANCH, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
RONALD LEE GILMAN, Circuit Judge. A jury found that nurses Melissa Furnace,
Chad Goetterman, and James Mollo (collectively, the Defendants) were deliberately indifferent
to Wade Jones’s medical condition while Jones was incarcerated at the Kent County Correctional
Facility (the Jail). The jury also found that the Defendants’ deliberate indifference was a
proximate cause of Jones’s subsequent death, and it awarded Jones’s Estate $6.4 million in
compensatory damages.
On appeal, the Defendants contend that the district court erred in denying their motion for
judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial. They raise the following four
arguments: (1) that the jury’s verdict was inconsistent, (2) that no reasonable jury could have
found that the Defendants’ deliberate indifference was a proximate cause of Jones’s death,
(3) that the Estate’s counsel committed “contumacious conduct” when she cried while examining
one of the Estate’s witnesses, and (4) that a juror’s alleged misconduct in failing to disclose his
criminal history during voir dire should result in a new trial.
After reviewing the trial record and the applicable law, we conclude that all of the
Defendants’ arguments lack merit. We therefore AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. |
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
DON WOODSON ELLIS,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 23-3147 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Toledo.
No. 3:18-cr-00532-1—Jeffrey James Helmick, District Judge.
Argued: June 11, 2024
Decided and Filed: August 16, 2024
Before: WHITE, STRANCH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
_________________________
OPINION
_________________________
MURPHY, Circuit Judge. After carjacking a gas-station customer and robbing a bank,
Don Ellis pleaded guilty to several offenses. He admitted that he had, among other things, twice
used or carried a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 924(c). On appeal, Ellis argues that the district court should have allowed him to withdraw his
guilty plea. He also argues that his indictment failed to allege a § 924(c) offense. And he argues
that the court constructively amended the indictment to fix this error. But all three claims suffer
from the same problem: Ellis waived his right to appeal as part of his plea agreement. He
nevertheless suggests that we may hear these claims because he did not knowingly plead guilty.
He adds that the alleged indictment error qualifies as a jurisdictional defect that he could not
waive. Because both arguments lack merit, we grant the government’s motion to dismiss this
appeal. |
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