An inquest jury looking into the death of a 14-year-old inmate at the King County Juvenile Detention Center found Thursday that he died of a natural medical condition that showed no earlier hint of its existence before he was stricken.

The jury also determined that the nurse on duty at the center responded to a call for help from the teen's roommate, and both she and paramedics made efforts to save the sick boy's life.

The six jurors took about 40 minutes to answer nine questions at the end of the 2 ½-day inquest, which was called to determine the circumstances surrounding the Dec. 26 death of Johnny Lim.

Jurors heard testimony from 10 witnesses, who covered numerous issues, including the time it took detention staff members to respond to Lim's emergency, the quality of the intercom system his roommate used to call for aid, the procedures followed and techniques used at the center during emergencies and the likelihood of survival for people with Lim's condition.

But the questions the jury was given — the main purpose of the inquest — were limited in scope. The answers essentially established the facts surrounding Lim's death.

After jurors delivered their findings Thursday, Lim's family and their attorneys — who wanted a more detailed set of more than 30 questions — expressed disappointment.

Attorney Ron Ward called the proceeding an "exercise in futility" heavily weighted in favor of the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention. Ward said Judge Darrell Phillipson tried to provide balance to the inquest but ultimately the process "should never be confused with justice" and needs to be reformed.
 

"They were just plain questions, basically facts that we already knew," said Jennifer Garman, a friend of the family.

Findings to be weighed

The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office will take one to two weeks to examine the jurors' answers and the other material from the inquest and decide whether any criminal charges are warranted, standard practice after an inquest, said spokesman Dan Donohoe.

Lim, who was being held at the detention center on suspicion of car theft, was found unconscious and not breathing by facility nurse Rene Berg at about 6:30 a.m. After CPR and other measures were attempted by Berg and then paramedics, Lim was transported to Harborview Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

The Medical Examiner's Office ruled Lim's death was due to natural causes, specifically from spontaneous bleeding to his brain stem due to a congenital abnormality. Lim's was the first in-custody death at the 14-year-old juvenile detention center in Seattle.

Earlier this week, the jury heard from detention officers on duty the morning of Lim's death. They testified that all required bed checks had been made throughout the night, including one by officer Chima Ijeoma at 6:25, when, he testified, he saw nothing unusual in Lim's cell.

Wednesday, Lim's 14-year-old cellmate told jurors that Lim had complained to him on and off throughout the night of a "killer headache" and that he had called for help three times and waited 10 minutes before a nurse came that morning.

The Seattle Times is not naming the cellmate because he is a juvenile.

Thursday morning the last witness, nurse Berg, testified that just after 6:30 a.m. she heard the guard in Lim's unit receive a single intercom call for help from the cellmate, Berg said.

"The intercom was very scratchy, there's a lot of static," Berg said. "The young man said something about a stomachache."

Questions to nurse

Jared Karstetter, a lawyer for the juvenile-detention guards, asked Berg whether there is a buzzer or a bell to alert staff members when an inmate is initiating contact over the intercoms.

"To my knowledge, when they're working, yes," she said.

Berg said she found Lim on the floor, unresponsive, but initially couldn't tell who he was because he wasn't wearing a standard wrist identification band. She began CPR and just after that a 911 call was placed. Medical-aid units arrived in five minutes, according to several witnesses.

During the wait, Berg continued CPR and ordered Lim's medical chart, which came only after another youth's chart was mistakenly retrieved, she said. Nothing in his medical history indicated a congenital defect, and at first Berg said she suspected a drug overdose.

After delivering their findings Thursday, members of the jury expressed dismay that the questions they were given were simplistic, given the complexity of the testimony.

"We took multiple pages of notes and only used very little of that," said Erin O'Malley, 21. Still, he said, he felt like the detention-center staff members did "what they were supposed to do."

"I don't think there was any negligence," said juror Jay McCarthy said.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com