Murder Suspect Gets Shot... Then What?

He'll be in a hospital, under guard (presuming that the wound is serious enough to require more than a bandaid. Jails simply do not have those kinds of medical facilities. Chances of him talking to a "regular Joe" are minuscule. About the best he'd get would be an attorney. And even that would be unlikely, until he's recovered enough to be taken back to the jail.

caw

DC is Federal, and that makes it especially interesting. Jails have medical facilities for low level medical needs. Depending upon the size of the area, and the inmate population, one or more hospitals will have some rooms or even an entire ward dedicated to inmates. My guess is at least one hospital has a secure area in the DC area, although ICU patients might be in the ICU instead. But even in a small hospital, they can deal with security.

Hospitals are interesting as far as security is concerned. They don't seem to have much, you seem to be able to wander all over the place, but try wandering into the ICU or the maternity wing now. A lot of hospitals have a secure psych area that you'll never realize exists, but it is as secure as most jails. Jail wings in hospitals are usually located on dead end corridors that don't seem to go anywhere.

His friend isn't going to get anywhere near him.

If he needs long-term care in the Federal system, he'll be transferred out of DC as soon as he's able to travel to a Federal prison hospital.

You haven't said how badly injured your character is. Assuming a serious wound, he'd be assessed and stabilized in the emergency department, then taken in for surgery, then the recovery room, then ICU until healthy enough to no longer need the ICU. Even if you can get into any of these, the normal patient is not left alone. A murder suspect, in addition to the medical people, would have one or two police officers with him until custody was transferred to the correctional officers. Only time the police would leave him is while he's in surgery.

Jim Clark-Dawe

jclarkdawe said:

Only time the police would leave him is while he's in surgery.

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And possibly not even then. I could see a scenario where a suspect of such high interest would get a police guard, watching just outside the OR door.

caw

What's the time frame? (e.g., If it's prior to 2001, injured/hospitalized arrested persons were housed in D.C. General Hospital's lock ward. The hospital closed in 2001.).

Jim pretty well nailed the general process.

Once treatment of the subject has been successfully rendered (further recovery does not require ICU level care and the patient is deemed well enough) the subject would be administratively discharged from the hospital. Then formally arrested pursuant to an outstanding warrant, the subject is brought before a judge of the DC Superior Court, or a US Magistrate Judge of the US District Court*. The subject is charged, arraigned, and the question of bail/bond is considered. Absent any form of pre-trial release, the subject would most likely be housed in the DC jail's infirmary, pending subsequent court appearances.

*The actual code citation violation(s) and/or prosecutorial discretion (US Attorney) will dictate which court venue is indicated (Superior vs US District Court). DC is somewhat unique in that municipal code violations and federal statute violations are prosecuted by the district's US Attorney and staff.

jclarkdawe said:

Hospitals are interesting as far as security is concerned. They don't seem to have much, you seem to be able to wander all over the place, but try wandering into the ICU or the maternity wing now. A lot of hospitals have a secure psych area that you'll never realize exists, but it is as secure as most jails. Jail wings in hospitals are usually located on dead end corridors that don't seem to go anywhere.

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I don't know so much about that. There are forensic patients on med surge floors every day in my facility, and depending on the state it could be a criminal offense to keep an non-pysch patient in a seclusion room.

Honestly I'm not certain how this would work. The patient/suspect still has their Constitutional rights, right. Like if they called someone and then suddenly family members and friends started showing up that would be an issue between the cop and the family if they're on a medsurge floor. If your MC calls his friend and the friend comes to visit the nursing staff on a med surge floor isn't going to stop him, though the cop might. I suppose if the friend posed as clergy he'd get in because you're allowed clergy visits when you're in county lockup, in some areas.

As this is a murder suspect, the procedure becomes very simple. It's harder to figure out something like a DUI with serious injuries to the passenger. Usually in that case, the police arrest and release, because then the government isn't going to be on the hook for the medical bills. And the police can easily keep track of the patient and if they want custody when he's released, that's easily dealt with.

But a murder suspect? The government is probably going to want serious bail even for something like second degree murder. So the police arrest the suspect at the hospital or scene, and he's now in their custody. The Constitution allows the police to hold for a certain period without a bail hearing. Effectively by playing around with this a bit, you can get between 48 - 72 hours of hold without a bail hearing, ignoring holidays and weekends. At this point, the suspect is in police custody, not correctional custody. The police can restrict access to the suspect, and this includes family and clergy. Even an attorney can have problems getting access to his client during this period, without the Constitution being violated.

Once this hold period expires, the police need to hold a bail hearing. At that point, a judge will come to the hospital and hold a bail hearing. This will meet the Constitutional requirements even if the suspect is in a coma. Usually for murder suspects, bail is either not available or beyond the ability of most mortals to raise. Custody of the suspect is transferred to the corrections department. At that point, the police stop guarding the inmate and correctional officers assume the duty. Visitation is allowed in accordance with the corrections department visitation policy, which would include clergy certified to be members of the clergy.

This is all Constitutional. On security arrangements, the hospital director will defer to the government. Security is the responsibility of the police and/or corrections department and the nurse can allow whoever she wants to visit. They still ain't getting in.

Realize this is done in a very low key fashion. ICU is very easy to control, and the hospital will already have visitation rules. But even in the regular rooms of the hospital, you can usually position this stuff for privacy. And as IronMike points out, at least in the past, D.C.'s General Hospital had a lockup. I doubt when it got closed it was discontinued. My guess it just moved somewhere else.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Yeah, but most hospitals don't have the capacity to hold non-critical patients in the ICU anymore.

It depends upon what the corrections department has set up. If there's a locked ward, that solves that problem. If there isn't a locked ward, as soon as the suspect can be transported, he will be. Usually if there is no locked ward, the corrections department has rather extensive medical facilities. And the Feds are especially good at this, having at least two prisons that are hospitals. They can handle just about anything an inmate is going to be allowed for surgery.

Inmates are handled a bit differently than suspects, and are also more likely to have chronic issues. Here we have an acute injury that by the time you leave ICU, you're in pretty good shape, considering. And the issue of rehab is not an issue for suspects or inmates. That can be dealt with in jail. Nor does the inmate have to be able to do anything when they leave the hospital. For instance, stairs are not an issue. They'll be kept in the hospital ward on the jail or prison. No stairs involved. So a suspect can be sent "home" a lot sooner than a normal patient.

Again, this depends upon where you are and the facilities available, but it's unlikely a murder suspect would stay in a hospital very long after leaving ICU unless there is a locked ward available. Murder suspects are high security, and you don't know what their behavior is going to be like. But you know it includes the capability to kill someone.

Jim Clark-Dawe

Having worked in hospitals, including in the ER, and worked a bit in a locked down psych ward, I can't think of any way a "regular joe" is going to get in to talk to a patient in police custody. It's just not going to happen. Hospital security is better at keeping random people out now than in the past and if a patient is under police guard that is even stricter. The only possible scenario that comes to mind is getting a message passed through a hospital employee. And it would have to be someone who has a reason to speak with the patient or be part of his care. And it has to be done with the cop most likely in the treatment area. (Although you could create a scenario where a CT Tech has a moment alone to pass a note after being bribed by someone. It may not be totally realistic but you might be able to sell it as plausible). And, even then, we're talking about passing a note, or a couple quick words, not a back and forth conversation and not one that includes a stranger. And the hospital employee would have to have a very good reason to risk their job and prison time.