FORT SMITH -- Sebastian County's prosecuting attorney has ruled that there was no criminal fault in the death of a county jail inmate who hanged himself in his cell in December.
Dan Shue wrote in a news release Thursday that he completed his review of an Arkansas State Police investigation and ruled that no charges can be filed in the death of inmate Joseph Ditcharo.
A jail deputy found Ditcharo during a cell check hanging by a bedsheet hooked to a sprinkler pipe in the early evening of Dec. 11, according to the release.
Ditcharo was arrested Nov. 21 on charges of theft of property and rape. He reported during his booking that he had made a suicide attempt when he was 13 and was placed on suicide watch until Dec. 8, Shue wrote in the release.
The state medical examiner's office concluded that Ditcharo died from hanging and deemed his death a suicide, the release said. The report noted the presence of old, irregular scars on the left upper extremity, indicating previous suicide attempts.
"Given the totality of the circumstances and the applicable law, no criminal offense has been committed," Shue wrote.
NW News on 05/23/2015