INMATE DIES IN ST. LUCIE COUNTY JAIL

ST. LUCIE COUNTY - A 20-year-old St. Lucie County jail inmate died Thursday
morning - possibly of an overdose - after fellow inmates noticed him in bed
sweating and experiencing difficulty breathing.

Jason Daniel King, of 7402 Kenwood Road, died after being taken to Lawnwood
Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce.

Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Diggs said he suspected "'strongly" that Jason
King, who grew up in Fort Pierce and graduated from Martin County High
School, died of an overdose of "'some medication."

He said the medical examiner's office is awaiting toxicology results, which
will take seven to 10 days to complete.

"We didn't find anything unusual," he said. "No foul play has happened to him."

St. Lucie County Undersheriff Dennis Williams said the toxicology results
"will dictate the direction that the investigation takes."

King was serving eight months at the Rock Road facility after being
sentenced March 2 on drug charges.

Deputies arrested King on Sept. 21 after receiving a tip he was selling
marijuana, a sheriff's report shows. He allowed deputies inside his home
where he eventually turned over almost a pound of marijuana, most of which
was hidden in a shoe box under his bed.

At the time, King allegedly said he"d been selling marijuana for "only the
past few months'" to make enough money to buy a car to drive to work,
according to the report.

King's mother, 44-year-old Lillie King, described her son as a "good boy"
who enjoyed hanging out with his friends and listening to music in his
spare time.

"He got arrested and he went to jail and now he's dead," she said. "I don't
know why he died. The coroner said he was healthy, perfectly, perfectly
healthy - no reason for him to die."

Born in Tampa, King had black hair, brown eyes and a serious girlfriend
whom he planned to marry, Lillie King said outside her Lakewood Park home
Thursday afternoon. Jason had a "passion" for reading and enjoyed Stephen
King and Dean R. Koontz novels.

King's death was the third at the jail in the past four years.

In September 1998, guards found Gregory Herndon, 36, of Indian River
Estates, hanging in his cell, the victim of an apparent suicide.

In December 1996, Anderson Tate, 22, of Fort Pierce died after being
strapped into a restraint chair at the jail following his arrest. The Fort
Pierce man apparently ingested cocaine rocks before being taken into custody.

He writhed and moaned for more than three hours in the chair, screaming
that he was burning up from too much cocaine in his system. He eventually
convulsed, then stopped breathing and died hours later at Lawnwood Regional
Medical Center.

King, who will be buried Saturday at White City Cemetery & Mausoleum, has a
21-year-old brother and a 24-year-old sister.

"Everybody loved him," Lillie King said.