The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office has agreed to a settlement of three hundred ninety-five thousand dollars to the family of a twenty-year-old man who was killed at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in two thousand twenty. The man, Kevin Carter, died after being placed in a cell with a mentally ill and dangerous inmate. The Nebraska Legislature is expected to formally approve the settlement next week as part of Legislative Bill Five Thirty-Four.
Both the Attorney General’s Office and the family’s attorney declined to comment on the settlement, which concludes more than a year of legal disputes surrounding Carter’s death at the hands of inmate Angelo Bol.
In two thousand twenty-three, Paige Carter, Kevin’s mother from Council Bluffs, Iowa, filed a civil rights lawsuit. The suit alleged that former Corrections Director Scott Frakes, Warden Michelle Wilhelm, former medical director Dr. Harbans Deol, and others violated Kevin Carter’s Eighth Amendment rights by failing to protect him from cruel and unusual punishment. The family’s attorney, Thomas Monaghan, argued that officials were liable due to Bol’s lack of medical treatment and the negligent supervision of prison staff responsible for inmate housing decisions.
Court documents stated that Bol, serving a life sentence for a two thousand fourteen murder, had previously been involuntarily medicated while incarcerated but had been taken off antipsychotic medication by the time Carter was placed in his cell. Roughly a week later, on November sixth, two thousand twenty, Bol killed Carter, reportedly driven by delusions involving tribal rivalries. A doctor at the Lincoln Regional Center later described the killing as a “classic case of insanity.”
A state judge found Bol not responsible by reason of insanity last summer. Meanwhile, in the federal civil case, Senior U.S. District Judge John Gerrard denied the state’s motion to dismiss, allowing the lawsuit to move forward. Gerrard ruled that the defendants allegedly knew of Bol’s volatility, which went beyond a random surprise attack.
The case drew parallels to a similar tragedy in two thousand seventeen when inmate Terry Berry was killed by his cellmate, Patrick Schroeder, who was also serving a life sentence. That incident led to a four hundred seventy-nine thousand dollar settlement paid to Berry’s family. Like Berry, Carter was nearing parole when he was assigned a cellmate with a violent past, despite previous warnings.
Additional settlements pending legislative approval include:
Nine hundred fifty thousand dollars for Clementine Hernandez, who suffered serious injuries after a Nebraska State Trooper struck his vehicle during an illegal U-turn on U.S. Highway Thirty-Four in April two thousand twenty-two.
Three hundred seventy-five thousand dollars for Jay Krejci, who was injured after being hit by a vehicle running a red light during a State Patrol pursuit in Lincoln in May two thousand twenty-one.
One hundred eighty-five thousand dollars to settle claims by former State Patrol Captain Gerald Krolikowski, who alleged retaliation after reporting misuse of enforcement funds.
One hundred sixty-two thousand five hundred dollars to resolve a lawsuit involving a Department of Health and Human Services employee’s placement of a vulnerable seventeen-year-old girl with an intoxicated man in two thousand eighteen, leading to her assault.
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