Metro faces $10 million lawsuit over slaying of jail inmate

By Steve Green

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 | 7:56 p.m.

A civil rights lawsuit was filed against Las Vegas police Thursday over the July 29 slaying of jail inmate Francesco Sanfilippo — allegedly at the hands of teen cellmate Carl Guilford.

Susanne Zeigler, the victim’s sister, filed suit in federal court in Las Vegas against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Guilford and Naphcare Inc., a company that provides health care to inmates.

Represented by Las Vegas attorney E. Brent Bryson, Zeigler charges in the suit that jail personnel improperly housed Sanfilippo, whom she called a non-violent offender, with Guilford.

The suit describes Guilford as “a mentally ill individual who was being prescribed medication for his mental issues, and who had admitted to killing his 6-year-old nephew and hearing the devil speak to him.”

Jail personnel violated Sanfilippo’s rights by housing him “with a self-admitted killer and a person of mental instability,” the suit alleges.

These constitutional rights include the right to not be deprived of life or liberty without due process of law, the right to equal protection under the law and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, the suit says.

The suit claims Metro, which is in charge of the Clark County Detention Center, failed to properly train and supervise personnel there.

The suit also alleged that while Guilford was prescribed medication for his mental issues while at the jail, he refused to take his medication and jail personnel were aware of this.

Guilford was accused in the suit of wrongful death as he allegedly “intentionally, maliciously and wrongfully brought about the death of Sanfilippo by choking and stabbing to death Sanfilippo, without legal cause or justification.”

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the police department of $10 million and at least $10,000 in damages against Guilford.

Police have said Guilford, 18, has blamed the devil for the slaying of Sanfilippo, 39.

The Clark County coroner’s office ruled he died from blunt force injuries to the head and abdomen. Police said he was also stabbed with a pencil.

Police had arrested Guilford in May in the death of his 6-year-old nephew, Christopher Montgomery, who was suffocated with a blanket — another incident in which Guilford told investigators he had heard the devil’s voice.

Sanfilippo was being held at the jail on 13 counts of possession of child pornography and on a drunken driving warrant, police have said.

Police have said Guilford and Sanfilippo were in the protective custody unit, a special area for suspects who could face threats from the general inmate population based on the nature of their charges. They’ve also said inmates receive psychological evaluations to determine their placements.

Metro hasn’t yet responded to Thursday’s lawsuit, and its policy is to not comment on lawsuits.