JUDGE KING RESPONDS

Henri E. Cauvin's Oct. 1 Metro article, "D.C. Jail Stay Ends in Death
for Quadriplegic Md. Man"; an Oct. 2 editorial, "An Inmate's Death";
and two op-ed columns by Colbert I. King, "Another Unnecessary Death
in D.C." [Oct. 9] and "A Son's Death, a Mother's Unanswered Questions"
[Oct. 16], concerned the death of Jonathan Magbie while in the custody
of the D.C. Department of Corrections. Mr. Magbie had been sentenced
to 10 days in jail for possession of marijuana.

I would like to provide information about the sentencing from public
court records that has not been included in some of The Post's coverage.

At the time of his arrest, Mr. Magbie had four grams of crack cocaine
in his pocket and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol loaded with 20 rounds of
ammunition that he told the co-defendant to place on him. Police also
found marijuana in the car.

A grand jury indicted Mr. Magbie on charges of carrying a pistol
without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm, possession
of ammunition, possession of a prohibited weapon (a machine gun),
possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana. Mr. Magbie pleaded
guilty to the marijuana charge. As the law allowed, Superior Court
Judge Judith E. Retchin considered the surrounding circumstances at
the time of sentencing on the marijuana charge.

The Oct. 16 op-ed column quoted an e-mail from the Department of
Corrections to Mr. King. It said that a physician with the Corrections
Department had expressed his concern that Mr. Magbie did not belong in
the D.C. Jail, given the nature of the sentence and his overall
medical condition. Court records, however, reflect that while a doctor
did call to say that he should be in the hospital, not the jail,
neither Mr. Magbie's lawyer nor anyone else requested that the
sentence be modified.

The column ended with quotes from a January hearing transcript during
which Judge Retchin said she would issue a warrant for Mr. Magbie's
arrest, instead of waiving his appearance at a status hearing because
he was recovering from pneumonia. Not included was a quote later in
the transcript that made it clear that Judge Retchin decided not to
issue a warrant and rescheduled the case.

Mr. Magbie's death is a tragedy. It should not have happened. We must
determine what went wrong based on as full and accurate an inquiry
into the facts as possible, and we must work to prevent such a tragedy
from happening again. Mischaracterization of the facts has no place in
such an inquiry.

RUFUS G. KING III

Chief Judge

Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Washington