Court records: Man fatally beaten in Racine County Jail wasn't found for 22 minutes

 

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Court records filed Tuesday provided new details on how one man beat another man to death at the Racine County Jail on Dec. 31. Davonte Carraway, 29, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide.

Joseph Lee, 35, never regained consciousness after the attack. On Sunday, his loved ones accompanied him through Froedtert Hospital as he was taken to donate his organs before being pulled from life support. Relatives held a vigil outside the jail later that night.

The criminal complaint outlining those charges relied mostly on surveillance video that captured almost all of the attack. At 12:15 p.m., Carraway attacked Lee in a dayroom the inmates were sharing. 

Carraway punched Lee in the head several times, causing Lee's head to bounce off a cell door. After a fifth punch, another inmate tried to step in, but Carraway pushed the inmate away.

Carraway then tried to pick Lee up and slam him. He did so twice, but each time, Carraway lost his grip and Lee's head landed on the concrete floor.

Multiple inmates tried to step in again, but Carraway shoved them away. He punched Lee two more times while he was on the floor, then lifted Lee and dropped him "headfirst into a 55-gallon garbage can."

At 12:37, a corrections officer went into the dayroom to collect lunch trays, and that was when jail staff discovered a critically injured Lee, who was still inside the garbage can. According to the complaint, the entire attack lasted 47 seconds.

Paramedics noted Lee was beaten so severely, he had swallowed several of his gold teeth, which needed to be cleared from his airway."

Alyssa Sura had three children with Lee, who was the father of six kids altogether. Sura, who now lives in Kentucky, returned to Racine to see Lee before he was taken off life support.

"[His kids] were able to see him," Sura said. "They do know what type of shape he was in, and they just know that he got into a really bad fight."

Sura said her three kids with Lee are 12, nine and six years old. She said the 9-year-old boy, Charles Jr., is especially distraught.

Sura said she reviewed the details in the criminal complaint with the family's lawyer, B'Ivory LaMarr. 

"They're horrific details," Sura said. "I don't even think I want to know some of the details, but I think I need them for closure."

LaMarr had initially told reporters about 45 minutes passed from when Lee was attacked to when corrections officers found him. Tuesday, he said a 22-minute gap was still unacceptable.

"The bottom line is even if it was two minutes, that would be too long," Ivory said. "I have had individuals contact me who are correctional officers at that facility, who have also informed me that it is not uncommon for one correctional officer to have the duty to try to supervise an entire unit."

Ivory said Carraway should have been monitored more closely because of his criminal history. State court records show Carraway was in jail awaiting trial on a previous charge of first-degree attempted homicide. 

"It's no question that this person had these tendencies, and that this facility failed to mitigate those risks," he said.

Lee had been serving time for a conviction of manufacturing/delivering cocaine and bail jumping. When investigators interviewed Carraway, he said he attacked Lee because he was "loud" and believed Lee would "put his personal business out to others in the dayroom."

Carraway also said he believed Lee was going to attack him because he'd hitched his pants. Investigators noted the video showed Lee hitch his pants, but there was no indication he was about to become violent. The two men had been "exchanging words" when Carraway began throwing punches.

The complaint noted "no one...attempted to seek help from corrections officers, activated an emergency alert, or tried to render Medical Aid" after the attack. Ivory said he was skeptical of the account because the video showed inmates trying to stop the assault.

"It is not the duties of inmates to supervise and to monitor individuals that are incarcerated in their facility," Ivory said. "For individuals to take that type of response, makes it very hard to believe no one actually hit an emergency button."

The Kenosha County Sheriff's Office is investigating the incident to provide an outside, independent review. Sgt. Colin Coultrip did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday afternoon.

In a previous statement to CBS 58, Coultrip said Kenosha County investigators were keeping Lee's family updated, and "as more information becomes available to share, it will be released without delay."

Sura said she wanted to see the surveillance video immediately. 

"For all of this to happen in under a minute? I don't think I will ever believe that," she said. "Until I actually see the footage myself."