Deal Reached in Fla. Prison Death Case

By RON WORD

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Relatives for a death row inmate who died after a confrontation with guards have reached a tentative settlement in their lawsuit against corrections officers and the former head of Florida prisons.

Inmate Frank Valdes died in 1999 at the Florida State Prison near Jacksonville. An autopsy showed he had 22 broken ribs; fractures in his sternum, spine, nose and jaw; and internal injuries.

His father, Mario Valdes, sued several guards and a corrections official in 2002, alleging wrongful death.

The state agreed to pay the $737,500 settlement, plus attorneys’ fees and costs for a total of $1,169,923, said Nina Banister, spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Risk Management.

Valdes, 36, was sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of a corrections officer at Glades Correctional Institution. The man was shot when Valdes and another man attempted to free an inmate in a prison van outside a doctor’s office in West Palm Beach.

The settlement, filed Wednesday, still requires the signatures of a federal judge and a probate judge. A spokeswoman for the Valdes family’s attorney said they would not comment until the settlement is final.

Martin Fitzpatrick, attorney for six of the former guards, said he was not aware of the terms of the deal but that none of his clients had to pay.

“It’s been a long process,” he said. “My clients are happy to see this matter behind them.”

A message left for Ronald Wasilenko, attorney for former Corrections Secretary James Crosby, was not immediately returned. At the time of the slaying, Crosby was warden at the Florida State Prison.

Three former guards were acquitted in 2002 of second-degree murder, and charges were dropped against five other corrections officers after prosecutors determined they could not win a conviction. Most residents in the area work for prisons or are related to someone who does.