Seventy-two year old John Longo died in custody, one day after being remanded by Tim Bailey. He was convicted by a jury on February 4th for a non-violent theft charge involving scamming a boat from an elderly victim back in 2018. The police report is here. A civil action also accompanied the prosecution.
Multiple motions were filed by defense counsel Marco Quesada in the days before the trial, asking to stay the proceedings, citing Covid-19 concerns, Longo’s heart and lung disease, and his reliance on an oxygen machine, which was utilized throughout the trial via a long tube connected to where the noise-emitting oxygen concentrator was stationed in the ante-room of the courtroom. Two doctors had also offered opinions that Longo’s health concerns, coupled with contracting Covid-19, “could be fatal,” but after SAO objection, and an appeal to chief criminal judge Andy Siegel that was deferred back to Bailey, the case proceeded to the jury.
According to Quesada, after the guilty verdict, he strongly reiterated his client’s obvious health issues, and asked to keep Longo out of jail pending preparation of a Pre Sentence Investigation report (PSI) and the sentencing. The request was denied, with Bailey reportedly assuring all parties that BSO had more than adequate health care facilities to help Longo. There were some logistical issues as to how to bring the breathing apparatus into the jail, and Longo may not have received his required oxygen intake for periods of time due to transport issues. He died less than twenty-four hours after the remand.
The prosecuting attorney, Kathy Heaven, spoke with us earlier today. Answers as to why the SAO wouldn’t agree to a continuance were off the record, and we agreed to follow-up with the SAO’s PIO. Our subsequent official request for an interview with Heaven and Harold Pryor was denied because the parties were “not available.”
“John’s worst fear has come true,” Quesada says. “He was afraid he was going to die if he went to that courthouse. And it all could have been avoided.”
In tragic fashion, case number 18-007687-CF10A is now closed.
Forever.
