TRIAL TO BEGIN OVER JAIL FATALITY

Plaintiffs' Attorneys, Including Johnnie Cochran's Firm, Assert Sheriff's
Department Liable.

No one disputes that Drew Allen Walsh, 32, of Montecito was an addict
withdrawing from heroin when he was arrested and jailed on suspicion of
burglary four years ago.

In a civil trial set to begin today, however, a federal jury in Los Angeles
will hear widely differing opinions as to why Walsh died convulsively on the
cement floor of his County Jail cell in Goleta, having plummeted head-first
from a top bunk about 12 hours after his arrest.

An official autopsy turned up no physical sign of injury resulting from that
fall of nearly six feet. It concluded instead that Walsh was killed by a
combination of other factors: "acute toxicity" from cocaine and morphine in
his system, as well as heart damage caused by chronic drug use.

Yet, in court documents, lawyers for Walsh's relatives assert that no more
than "a whitewash investigation" was conducted of his May 4, 1995, death, in
an attempt to hide the Sheriff's Department's liability. The autopsy was
"well off the mark of the true cause of death,'' contend the plaintiffs'
attorneys, which now include the law firm of Johnnie Cochran, the famed
defense attorney who convinced a jury to acquit O.J. Simpson of murder.

"The truth is that Walsh died of blunt force trauma to the head," wrote
attorneys for Griffith and Thornburgh, a prominent Santa Barbara firm that
has represented Walsh's two children and brother since the lawsuit was filed
against the county in late 1996. Apparently helping finance the lawsuit
against the county is Walsh's mother, Tommie Pitts of Montecito, whose
husband is one of the principal executives with Pitts and Bachman Realtors.

No medical evidence of a head injury was noted during the autopsy done by
licensed pathologist, Dr. Elizabeth Peacock, on the day Walsh died, noted
Deputy County Counsel Jake Stoddard. He is defending a sheriff's detective
who arrested Walsh, two jailers and two county Heath Care Services nurses on
duty at the jail the night Walsh was booked.

The autopsy was flawed because no microscopic examination of brain tissues
was done then, according to Jill O'Gorman, an attorney at Griffith and
Thornburgh. She said evidence of brain damage was seen, though, in
microscope slides examined by a medical expert hired by her law firm earlier
this month, after tissue samples were finally turned over by the county. "We
now have conclusive and objective proof that Drew (Walsh) died as a result
of trauma to the brain," O'Gorman said.

The lawsuit contends Walsh repeatedly asked to see a doctor and for
medication to ease his withdrawal symptoms -- stomach cramps, sweating and
chills -- but those pleas were negligently ignored by jailers and the
medical staff. Had he received proper care and not been placed in a cell
with a bunk 67 inches from the floor, the fatal fall would not have
occurred, the suit alleges.

Stoddard said Walsh was treated the same as any inmate believed to be
withdrawing from drugs. He died not from hitting his head, but as a result
of a drug-induced arrythmia of the heart, as detailed in the autopsy report,
the county lawyer added.

No one is to blame, legally or otherwise, for his death, Stoddard argues in
court papers. "No connection exists between whatever claimed care he should
have been provided for his addiction and Walsh's death."

Hundreds of thousands of dollars -- perhaps $1 million or more -- in
potential damages and attorney fees hinge on which side jurors believe at
the end of the trial, which is expected to take at least three weeks.
Although Cochran's law firm was hired as co-counsel for the plaintiffs about
two months ago, it was uncertain as of Monday whether the case will actually
be tried by the Los Angeles lawyer who so deftly attacked law enforcement
procedures during Simpson's internationally televised trial.

"This is a complex case with many issues and many witnesses, so we thought
it would be a good idea to associate (bring) them in to try the case with
us," O'Gorman explained.

The family's attorneys have subpoenaed about 25 Sheriff's Department
employees as trial witnesses.

Those lawyers have been barred from presenting to jurors some key
information that could have bolstered their case. Namely, a March 1996
report by the Santa Barbara County Grand Jury that was highly critical of
the way Walsh was cared for at the jail. Its damning conclusions have been
ruled inadmissable in court because they are based on hearsay interviews.

There was "no evidence the inmate was ever seen by the medical staff," the
Grand Jury wrote. In addition, "the life of the inmate was potentially
endangered by the inability of a licensed nurse (at the jail) to perform
CPR," or cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

While conceding Walsh had abused drugs for years, his family's lawyers say
he had no history of heart problems.