Lawsuit filed for 7-year-old

Sunday, June 18, 2000 | 3:21 a.m.

The lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the 7-year-old son of Kenneth Walton, a taxi driver who tried to commit suicide at the jail two years ago and died of a heart attack there last year.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money in compensation for Walton's death and projected earnings, said Reno lawyer Carter King, who with Mary Lou Wilson is representing the boy, Kenneth Walton Jr.

Jail officials had numerous indications that Walton was suicidal when he jumped off the balcony of a jail housing unit with the sharpened end of a mop handle in his mouth, the lawsuit alleges.

Walton survived, but died of a heart attack in March 1999 because of a failure to receive his prescribed heart medication, the lawsuit further claims.

"I have never been able to see any basis for liability in this," Deputy District Attorney Greg Shannon said.

Walton had been in jail awaiting court action on four counts of sexual assault on his former wife.