Jury selection Court opened Tuesday morning with jury selection. The pool of prospective jurors included dozens of residents of Wichita and other areas in Kansas, 18 and older, with a wide range of professional, educational and familial backgrounds. Lawyers and the judge spent the day questioning them extensively about their lives, work, education, family and biases to determine whether they could be impartial jurors in the case. U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren quickly eliminated several people who were college students at risk of missing too much class, caregivers for children or the elderly and those with medical or transportation difficulties that might make a three-week commitment a hardship. People who were already familiar with the case or who had strong ties to law enforcement or correction officers were also dismissed.

Opening statements, first officer takes the stand Following about a day and a half of jury selection, the court seated its eight-person jury Wednesday morning. Attorneys then presented their opening statements, where lawyers tell jurors what they think evidence in the case will show. During his openings, an attorney for the plaintiffs told jurors that the five corrections officers who pinned 17-year-old CJ face down for 39 minutes “went far beyond what is reasonable” to subdue him. CJ was a physically healthy 135-pound teenager when he was brought into the facility that morning, John Marrese said. By the time he left, he was unconscious, unresponsive and basically dead. “That young man didn’t get to live. No birthdays, no weddings, no relationships, no children, no job. His life was lost at 17,” Marrese said. “There is a line between what is reasonable and what is excessive. ... This is not a close call.” Marrese told jurors that CJ ended up at JIAC that morning after his foster father called 911 so Wichita police could take him to the hospital for a mental evaluation. CJ was in the throes of a mental health crisis exacerbated by his grandmother’s recent death and had run away the previous day, he said. Marrese told jurors that Wichita police tried to convince CJ to voluntarily go to the hospital but changed course and took him to JIAC after he fought and battered police officers who forced him to comply. When CJ was removed from a full-body restraint device police had used to transport him to JIAC, he was calm, walking around and uninjured, Marrese said. But after a scuffle, corrections staff shackled his ankles and moved him into a prone position on the concrete floor of a holding room for more than a half hour. Corrections staff “had control” over the teen early on, Marrese told jurors. But instead of handcuffing him and immediately sitting him upright, the five corrections officers “used force and weight to keep CJ down” until he “goes unconscious underneath the defendants and dies,” he said. Collectively, the staff members weighed more than 1,000 pounds, he told jurors. Prone restraints are dangerous and sometimes deadly, he said. “Every reasonable officer in Kansas and elsewhere knew that at the time.” In the defendants’ opening statements, lawyer Jeffrey Kuhlman told jurors his clients are “ordinary people” whose day-to-day job involves acting more like counselors than corrections officers. They’re not law enforcement officers, he said. Restraining youth in the facility was rare, Kuhlman told jurors. But the morning police brought CJ into JIAC, staff “dealt with something extraordinary,” he said. CJ was so “aggressive, strong and combative” that the corrections officers never gained control over him, even after he was on the ground, he said. The teen’s fighting was like nothing they had encountered before and the officers couldn’t let go because the teen never tired, he said. At the time CJ was restrained, Kuhlman said his clients weren’t familiar with the term “prone restraint” — they called it a “ground restraint” or “safe hold” — and were trained to use multiple staff members to conduct it for safety. But no one put their body weight on CJ’s back or shoulders at any point, he said, contrary to claims. He told jurors that even though video footage typically answers questions in cases alleging excessive force, here only the defendants know exactly what happened with CJ because there is no close-up recording. The video footage that exists was shot from across the facility’s lobby and has no audio. “Make no mistake, this is a tragedy,” Kuhlman said. But the question is not whether CJ’s death was tragic or whether the corrections’ officers use of force was the best course of action he said; jurors must decide whether the restraint used on CJ was lawful. “They weren’t trying to take anybody’s life. All they were trying to do was keep everyone, including CJ, safe.” After opening statements, the first of the five corrections officers who restrained CJ took the witness stand. For half a day, an attorney for the plaintiffs, Brian Eldridge, questioned Brenton Newby about his interactions with CJ while playing a series of video clips of the restraint for jurors. Newby testified that he and other corrections officers were never able to gain control over CJ because the teen “was constantly fighting” for the entire 39 minutes he was pinned, even though video shown in court appears to contradict that claim. He insisted he never put his body weight on CJ’s shoulders or back, despite Wichita police body camera video that show him telling an officer that he had. Asked about the contradiction, Newby told jurors he hadn’t explained himself well to the officer that night. In a later law enforcement interview, he also denied applying weight, he said. Newby testified that he was taught not to apply weight to someone’s back but said he might not have known that it could compromise person’s ability to breathe. Newby was working his last shift as a senior corrections officer at the Juvenile Detention Facility, which is adjacent to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center, when Wichita police brought CJ into the building on Sept. 24, 2021. He said he saw CJ walking around the lobby after JIAC staff member Jason Stepien let CJ out of a holding room. He testified that he tried convincing CJ to participate in the intake process after Stepien’s attempts failed. Newby testified that Stepien told CJ to return to a holding room after he reached over a partition and that they forced CJ into the room and shackled his legs after CJ punched Stepien’s head and held Newby in a chokehold. Newby said that after CJ was moved to the floor, he pinned down CJ’s left arm, while Stepien, William Buckner, Karen Conklin and Benito Mendoza held other parts of his body. At the time, Newby weighed between 160 and 170 pounds and was a longtime athlete who had played soccer in high school and college, he testified. He also had worked as a corrections officer at the maximum-security prison in El Dorado. At times, Newby seemed confused, claimed no recollection or gave evasive answers when Eldridge asked specifics about his encounter with CJ, including who shackled the teen legs, who decided to move him to the floor, and how long he laid on his chest and stomach. Asked why corrections staff didn’t handcuff CJ immediately after applying the leg shackles, Newby said they were “trying to deescalate him” and that they’d been trained to use handcuffs on a youth only as a last resort. He insisted repeatedly that CJ “was constantly fighting” and “breaking free of the holds,” preventing their efforts. Asked how much time elapsed before CJ became unresponsive, Newby replied: “I’m not sure. There was no clock in there.” When the lawyer asked Newby if he knew CJ’s heart had stopped beating, Newby said he didn’t know. Didn’t you check his pulse? “I did at one point, yes.” And you didn’t find a pulse? “That I don’t remember,” he replied. Newby claimed he received some bruises on his side and back from CJ pinching and grabbing at him but said he never told law enforcement about them. He did have redness on his right elbow that was photographed and shown to jurors. He was given a Band-Aid to treat it, he testified. Newby’s testimony continues Wednesday.

Officers testify Brenton Newby took the witness stand again Thursday morning to continue his testimony. Again, he insisted that CJ was so combative that corrections officers never gained enough control over him to end the restraint. He feared for his life the entire time, he testified. He told jurors he had been trained to maintain holds on juveniles “until they calmed down” and to “wait it out until the youth is ready to comply.” But he said he never leaned or put his body weight on CJ’s back or shoulders as he held down the teen’s left arm and instead supported his weight on the floor or wall. The lawyer questioning him, Brian Eldridge, suggested that claim didn’t match what the JIAC video showed. Newby testified that when he heard a snoring sound coming from CJ more than 30 minutes into the restraint, he wasn’t concerned because the teen “was still being combative and trying to fight.” He told jurors he had never heard the term “agonal breathing,” a type of life-threatening gasping- or snoring-like breathing pattern that happens during cardiac arrest and other medical emergencies. Asked if CJ was lifeless when corrections officers rolled his handcuffed and shackled body over, Newby said he didn’t know. He also said he didn’t provide any aid to the teen when one of the other corrections officers started chest compressions. When he was cross-examined by his lawyer, Newby said restraining juveniles at the facility was maybe a monthly occurrence on the day shift but was “not very common at all” at night. He said corrections staff used a variety of techniques to get youth to comply with orders, including talking, before taking physical steps. He referred to physically restraining a youth as “going hands on” and “going downtown” and testified that physical restraints ranged from a gentle guiding or escorting to putting a youth on the floor if they were being combative. Ground restraints were used when other avenues hadn’t worked, he said. He testified that he had used ground restraints at the juvenile detention facility “no more than five or six” times during the two years he worked there and that they sometimes lasted up to 10 minutes or longer. He told jurors youth would usually let him know when they were ready to cooperate and that’s what would end the restraint. He testified that he only used the force needed on CJ “to try to be able to . . . have my hold secured” and never released it because “I didn’t know what else could possibly happen.” He also said that CJ never told him that he couldn’t breathe. Also taking the witness stand Thursday was Jason Stepien, the juvenile intake specialist at JIAC who was responsible for determining whether the facility could accept CJ or if he needed to be seen at a hospital first. Stepien told jurors that when CJ was brought into JIAC, Wichita police had described the teen as combative, aggressive and extremely strong. But he said he had no reason to think that CJ was suffering from a mental health crisis at that time and relied on police officers’ assessment about the teen’s physical and mental state. Stepien told jurors he didn’t protest when police decided to remove CJ from a full-body wrap restraint device even though he initially thought the teen wasn’t ready. He testified that he didn’t question a Wichita police officer who changed his answers from yes to no on a release form that asked whether CJ had an illness, impairment or injuries after the officer talked to another officer about how to fill it out. Any yes answers would have required police to take CJ to the hospital for an evaluation before he could have been left at JIAC, he told jurors. Stepien said when police were still in the building, he saw CJ exhibiting some strange behavior but saw no overt signs of mental illness. After police left, Stepien let CJ walk around the JIAC lobby and tried to convince him to participate in the intake process. But CJ was unreceptive and tried to break a computer monitor, so he told him to return to the holding room, he testified. He and Newby forced CJ into the room after their interaction became physical, video shows. He testified that corrections officers didn’t have control of CJ because “he was still breaking our holds and struggling” and said he “never saw anyone put a forearm or force on CJ’s back” at any time during the 39-minute restraint. He held CJ down by the feet after the teen was on the floor, he testified. He said corrections staff tried to handcuff CJ early on but abandoned the effort because the cuffs were “doublelocked” and couldn’t be opened without a key. He and others had handcuff keys with them — and some also had other sets of handcuffs — but Stepien said he never thought to use them or ask anyone else for help at any point. He told jurors that even after CJ was handcuffed he never told other corrections officers to sit CJ upright and said he didn’t do it even though he was physically able to because “I don’t think that was the training.” He was afraid for his life the entire time, he said, including after CJ was both shackled and handcuffed. Stepien testified that he didn’t know CJ’s exact weight — 135 pounds — he helped hold him down but agreed that the teenager was “skinny.” Stepien is 6-foot-3 and weighed 275 pounds at the time. Stepien’s lawyers did not immediately cross-examine Stepien and will instead question him when they present their case to jurors. That decision was made to ensure court would end early Friday afternoon so jurors didn’t have to drive home in snowy weather.

Cardiologist, corrections professional testify A longtime cardiologist and a retired New York City corrections professional hired by the plaintiffs’ lawyers testified Friday about the risks associated with restraining a person face down — and what the corrections officers who held down Cedric “CJ” Lofton on Sept. 24, 2021, should have done instead. Alon Steinberg, a California-based medical doctor and cardiologist who has studied hundreds of prone restraint deaths and made recommendations to law enforcement, told jurors that CJ would still be alive had corrections officers rolled the teen onto his side or sat him upright at any point before he became unresponsive. Steinberg explained that prone restraints conducted on hard surfaces, such as concrete floors, are dangerous because they restrict a person’s breathing and blood flow. When those vital functions are restricted, especially after a struggle, a person’s bodily fluids can become too acidic, causing a Ph imbalance that can have a life-threatening impact on the heart and other organs, he testified. Steinberg told jurors that CJ’s medical records from Wesley Medical Center, the hospital where he was taken after being restrained face down on a concrete floor for 39 minutes, showed the teen was suffering from metabolic acidosis, an excess of acid in the body. Steinberg explained that when a person’s acid levels increase through exertion, such as exercise or a struggle, the lungs and blood work to expel excess carbon dioxide by adjusting the speed of breathing and circulation. That process can return a person’s Ph to more normal levels within minutes, he said. But when breathing and blood flow are restricted, the body can’t get rid of carbon dioxide fast enough. And that can impact heart function and lead to sudden death, he testified. Steinberg told jurors that CJ’s body likely became overly acidic during his struggle with corrections officers a few minutes before they placed him face down on the ground. Being restrained on the concrete by four strong and heavy adults worsened the condition because CJ’s lungs and diaphragm couldn’t expand enough and a vital vein in his belly was compressed, he testified. Steinberg told jurors that people held in a prone restraint can die from metabolic acidosis quickly — within a minute in some cases — and that the chance of death increases the longer a person is in that position. CJ had a normal, healthy heart for a 17-year-old boy and had no pre-existing medical issues that would have been concerning for sudden death, Steinberg said. The corrections officers caused his death, he told jurors. “He needed the ventilation and cardiac output. He wasn’t able to get it because he was in this position,” he said. Steinberg told jurors the length of CJ’s prone restraint was a record, at 39 minutes. Before this case, the longest he had seen was 18 minutes, he said. Under cross-examination, Steinberg acknowledged that people lie face down in the prone position every day in bed without risking death but said the difference is that beds are soft so they don’t restrict breathing and blood flow like a concrete floor does. He also said that CJ likely didn’t fully understand what was happening when the correction officers restrained him because of his mental state and that he probably struggled against them because his body was telling him that he needed to breathe. When corrections professional Jerome Davis took the witness stand, he also said that the prone position is dangerous because it restricts a person’s ability to breathe. Davis spent 30 years working with adult and juvenile inmates at the department of corrections in New York City, one of the country’s largest, until his 2011 retirement as supervising warden. He also spent time serving as deputy commissioner of the city’s juvenile justice department, where he was responsible for day-to-day facility operations, and also oversaw use of force investigations. He now teaches criminal justice courses at a community college. Davis testified that the dangers of prone restraints have been known for more than 25 years and that an adult should never put their weight on a child’s back because of the impact it has on their ability to breathe. He said there is “absolutely not” a reason to keep a person in a prone restraint for a prolonged period of time nor is there a reason to do it after a person is handcuffed. Davis testified that in his decades working in corrections, he never had a situation where he couldn’t successfully handcuff a person who was prone. The reason to put a person in that position is to make applying handcuffs easier, he told jurors. Once a person is face down, putting on handcuffs “should take no more than a minute,” he said. After that, “you get them up and get them out.” The trial continues Monday.

Officers and pathologist take the stand Jurors heard Monday from a third corrections officer who helped restrain Cedric “CJ” Lofton, as well as a Wichita police officer who interacted with the teen before he was taken to the Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center and a forensic pathologist who examined the 17-year-old’s body about a month after he died. Corrections officer Benito Mendoza took JIAC intake specialist Jason Stepien’s place holding down CJ’s shackled feet several minutes into the hold so Stepien could call 911 to ask police to return to the facility. Like the other corrections officers who pinned CJ to the concrete floor on Sept. 24, 2021, Mendoza testified that the teen was so out of control and combative it prevented them from maintaining secure holds on his body. Mendoza told jurors he had no idea how long CJ had been in the prone restraint when his supervisor, Karen Conklin, radioed a “10-19,” a signal for him to come to her location. But he said CJ was talking and breathing, responsive and conscious when he arrived. Like the others, he said he never told anyone to sit CJ upright, didn’t retrieve any handcuffs and didn’t put any of his body weight on the teen or see anyone else doing so. Mendoza is about 5-foot-10, weighs around 190 pounds and had about five years of experience as a corrections officer when CJ died, he told jurors. He testified that when he got Conklin’s radio call, he didn’t run to the JIAC lobby because the 10-19 code didn’t indicate an emergency. He also said at no time did corrections officers have control over CJ until the teen started making snoring sounds that he thought meant CJ had fallen asleep — but were actually agonal breathing. Mendoza testified that at that time he loosened his grip and monitored CJ in case he awoke and became combative again. CJ was handcuffed at that time. He told jurors that before becoming unresponsive, CJ had struggled and kicked, rolling from side to side and lifting his stomach and chest periodically off the floor, although he acknowledged that none of the officers had been bucked off by the teen’s movements. He claimed CJ would only pause long enough to “huff and puff” to build up energy, then “explode again.” “He wouldn’t stop resisting for very long times,” Mendoza said, making their attempts to deescalate the situation fruitless. Mendoza said CJ talked about “weird” things while he was restrained, such as killing them and saying he was Satan or God. Mendoza said he also heard the teen tell officers to get off of him. But he said they couldn’t risk letting him go in case CJ hurt himself or them. He agreed that using restraints on juveniles in the facility was rare and told jurors he had used a “reasonable amount” of force on CJ, as he had been trained. At least three officers and a supervisor were supposed to participate in a ground restraint, he said he had learned in training. “But it’s safer if it’s more.” Jurors also heard Monday from Cory Bennett, a Wichita police patrol officer who responded to CJ’s foster father’s home and helped put the teen in a wrap restraint device when he refused to go to the hospital willingly. Bennett told jurors CJ was calm for most of the 50 minutes he and other officers tried to talk him into seeking help voluntarily but showed clear signs of mental distress. Bennett said physically, CJ appeared to be “a normal teenage boy.” But he said he needed protection and asked Bennett to point his gun at people in the yard and sky that weren’t there, Bennett said. Bennett described CJ as confused, paranoid, sad, emotional, unfocused and unsure but not combative or aggressive until police officers tried forcing him into a police car. He said it took three officers and putting CJ in a prone restraint for a little more than a minute to get him handcuffed, but at no time did officers lose control over the teen while they were in his front yard. Police put CJ in the wrap restraint device after that and took him to JIAC instead of the hospital. They returned to JIAC after Stepien’s 911 calls. Dr. Jane Turner, a forensic pathologist, testified that nothing Wichita police officers did before taking CJ to JIAC caused a series of prominent, severe hemorrhages she discovered in the muscles covering his back when she examined his body about a month after his autopsy. She told jurors internal bleeding like that was most commonly caused by blunt trauma and that the prone restraint corrections officers used on CJ “was of significant force to cause those hemorrhages.” She agreed with autopsy findings that CJ died from cardiac arrest during the prone restraint and that his death was a homicide. She also told jurors that during her examination, she found no broken fingernails or injuries on CJ’s hands that “would be consisted with being an aggressor.” Testimony continues Tuesday.

William (Billy) Buckner and Karen Conklin took the stand, both employed by Sedgwick County and working as JDF Correctional officers.

Dr. Timothy Gorrill took the stand, Chief medical examiner that ruled CJs cause of death as complications of pulmonary arrest sustained after physical struggle refrained in the prone position.

Mr. Donald Holliday, a behavioral health social worker at Saint Francis Ministries was CJs case worker. His video deposition played in court.

Marquan Teetz took the stand his testimony marks midpoint of Cedric Lofton Civil Trial. The courtroom was filled with Lofton’s family, friends, and community supporters. Many wore Justice for Cedric shirts and pins as they gathered to witness testimony from Cedric’s older brother, Marquan Teetz, who concluded the family’s case. Teetz is also the plaintiff who filed the lawsuit. Marquan was the final witness for the family. He testified about the unstable childhood he and Cedric experienced, marked by frequent moves, absent fathers, and a mother who, despite being loving, was unprepared for parenthood. The constant transitions meant repeatedly starting over in new schools, new cities, and unfamiliar environments.

Teetz described how those experiences forged a deep bond between the brothers. They became best friends, relying on one another through both hardship and joy. He spoke about their shared love for basketball and anime, including Naruto.

He also shared personal insight into Cedric’s character, explaining that Cedric often used humor and singing as ways to cope with stress. Teetz told jurors that he had never seen his brother behave as he did during the welfare check or later while at JIAC.

Following Cedric’s funeral, Teetz testified that he repeatedly watched body-camera and JIAC surveillance footage from Cedric’s final day, sometimes daily, as he tried to understand what happened to his brother.

With Teetz’s testimony, the family formally rested its case. The trial now moves forward with testimony from the defense.

The defense brought Mr.Clayton to the stand. He was a WPD officers called to the scene because it was his beat. He stated he observed Cedric pacing on the porch and front yard talking about people he could see and asking if the officers could shoot them. He shared the officers on scene told the foster dad they could take Cedric willingly to the hospital to get a mental health evaluation or they could go ‘hands on’, meaning handcuff him to get him there. The decision to go hands on was made by him and the other officers on scene. He did not remember a lot of what transpired that night. The on scene supervisor decided Cedric would go to JIAC and not the hospital after continued struggle.

Jason Stepien takes the stand again. The video of Cedric being brought into JIAC in a wrap restraint was played - Stepien recanted on his statement of being in fear for his life for the duration of the time Cedric was in JIAC custody. Stepien stated he didn’t recognize Cedric was having a mental health crisis, but then stated Cedric was attempting to use mind control on him and Newby while in the lobby of JIAC.

Defense called a forensic examiner Dr. Bux to the stand. He stated after reviewing evidence his opinion of Cedrics cause of death was excited delirium. He did not examine his body just reviewed testimony from JIAC and JDF officers. After being cross examined by the plaintiff Dr. Bux revealed he had not seen 2 of the videos played of Cedric being in the prone position by JIAC and JDF officers. He also heard Newbys deposition he provided right after the incident September 2021 where he stated he was applying weight to Cedirc on one side and Buckner was doing the same on the other while in the prone position. He stated his opinion would stay the same because he didn’t have enough information.

Defense called expert witness on criminal justice agencies to the stand. He was questioned on training and policy for officers. He stated there is no national standard for juveniles being restrained in the prone position. His opinion was the JIAC and JDF officers followed policy.

Defense called Mark Kroll, biomedical scientist. His testimony asserted that 225lbs on the back of someone in the prone restraint could breathe just fine and 600lbs would kill someone. Defense examined the study Kroll testified with and confirmed that this study was conducted on adults on soft surfaces for 60 second time spans and included the test subjects getting extended breaks in between. This was held in contrast to Cedric being held in this restraint nonstop for 39 minutes. Defense also brought to light that Kroll stated under oath he reviewed Cedric’s medical records to come to his conclusion that being in the prone restraint was not Cedric’s cause of death - but in his own research records submitted for the case, Cedric’s medical records were not included, so he did not. This was the last witness for the defense (the County). The judge read the jury their instructions to follow in deciding their verdict. Then, both sides gave their closing statements to the jury, and they were dismissed to start deliberating the verdict.

Jury Deliberate all day.

A federal jury on Wednesday awarded $8.4 million in compensatory damages to the family of Cedric “CJ” Lofton, a 17-year-old Wichita teen who died after being restrained face-down for nearly 40 minutes inside the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center in 2021.