Federal Jury Awards $4 Million After Saguache County Jail Staff Ignored Inmate's Suicidal Warnings
A federal jury returned a $4 million verdict against Saguache County Jail officials after finding that staff ignored repeated suicidal statements made by 27-year-old Jackson Maes before his death in November 2019.
What happened
In November 2019, Jackson Maes, 27, was being held at the Saguache County Jail in Colorado when he made repeated statements indicating he intended to harm himself. Jail staff, including Captain Kenneth Wilson and Sheriff Dan Warwick, were aware of those statements. No meaningful intervention followed.
Maes died by suicide inside his cell. His body went undiscovered for approximately eight hours. His mother, Sarah Lieberenz, filed suit in 2021 as administrator of his estate, alleging that the defendants' deliberate indifference to his serious medical need violated his constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983.
Before trial, the case produced a significant appellate ruling. In June 2024, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a jail supervisor could be held individually liable for a detainee's suicide under the deliberate indifference standard, denying qualified immunity to Captain Wilson and clearing the way for the case to proceed to trial.
Trial before U.S. District Judge Nina Y. Wang ran from March 31 through April 9, 2025. Attorneys Sean Dormer and K.C. Harpring of Dormer Harpring, along with co-counsel J. Spencer Bryan of Bryan and Terrill, presented evidence that Wilson and Warwick were both subjectively aware of the risk Maes posed to himself and took no corrective action. A third defendant, fired deputy Miguel Macias, was found not liable by the jury, though evidence showed he had falsified welfare-check logs.
On April 9, 2025, the jury awarded $4 million to the estate. The court also ordered Wilson and Warwick to pay $77,068.29 in plaintiff's legal costs. A motion for attorney's fees, estimated at approximately $3 million, remained pending at the time of reporting.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Prison Legal News: $4 Million Verdict Returned in Colorado Jail Suicide Case (Nov 2025)·Archived copy
- 2.The Mountain Mail: Jurors find Saguache County jail liable, pay $4 million (Robert Boczkiewicz)·Archived copy
- 3.Heart of the Rockies Radio: Jury Awards $4 Million in Lawsuit Over Inmate Suicide at Saguache County Jail·Archived copy
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