A Washington agency is reviewing the 2023 death of Hien Trung Hua in the Yakima County jail to determine whether a new criminal investigation is warranted, the agency disclosed last week.
The state’s Office of Independent Investigations, or OII, decided to conduct the formal review in response to a request from Hua’s cousin in December that was prompted by The Seattle Times’ reporting on the case.
“Our family deserves answers,” Hua’s cousin, Celyna Ly, said about the OII review. “We understand there are no promises, but when tragedies strike, families need to be heard.”
Hua, 41, was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was jailed on a misdemeanor charge. His heart failed during a struggle with guards.
At the time, investigations by the jail and county cleared the guards of wrongdoing, and a report by the county coroner said Hua’s manner of death was “natural.” An investigation by Yakima police found the guards used “minor force,” and the county prosecutor took no subsequent action.
Last year, reporting by The Times detailed how Hua was pepper sprayed, tackled, shackled and struck by guards in the minutes leading up to his death and how he was restrained face down at the end, contrary to jail policy.
The forensic pathologist who performed Hua’s autopsy changed his manner of death finding to “negligent homicide” after The Times asked him about Hua’s prone restraint and about the jail’s surveillance videos of the incident, which he hadn’t watched before.
When a person held on their chest can’t breathe in enough oxygen or out enough carbon dioxide, their heart may stop, experts say. The medical-legal term “homicide” in an autopsy doesn’t necessarily imply criminality.
The Times contrasted Hua’s experience with that of Yakima County Coroner Jim Curtice, who was also arrested during a mental health crisis in 2023. Curtice was hospitalized rather than jailed, got help and kept his job. He has since been charged with criminal misconduct for allegedly taking illicit drugs from dead people during his work and using the drugs in his office.
Hua’s mother has filed a $50 million tort claim against Yakima County (a precursor to a lawsuit), and his cousin provided testimony to the Legislature this winter as a state lawmaker pushed for oversight of local jails.
The county’s Department of Corrections and the Yakima Police Department didn’t reply this week to requests for comment about the OII review.
How it works
The Office of Independent Investigations was created by the Legislature in 2021 to address conflicts of interest that can arise when law enforcement officers investigate other law enforcement officers. OII is a civilian-run agency that conducts criminal inquiries when officers use deadly force. It’s staffed by trained homicide investigators not affiliated with law enforcement.
Its main purpose is to investigate new incidents, which it started last year in Southwest Washington and which it will eventually do across the state.
OII isn’t investigating new incidents in Yakima County yet, so the original criminal investigation into Hua’s death was carried out by the Yakima Police Department on behalf of the Yakima Valley Special Investigations Unit.
But OII is authorized to retroactively investigate prior incidents if important new evidence is brought forward. That’s what Ly requested in December, citing the forensic pathologist’s new homicide finding. She said the original probes of her cousin’s death had been “tainted by false information.”
Hua’s case is now one of nine deaths under formal review, according to OII’s website. The other deaths all occurred earlier, from 2015 to 2020; none have moved past the review stage yet. The review of Hua’s case could take several months, OII spokesperson Hector Castro said.
Hua’s case
OII began gathering information about Hua’s case and notifying involved parties in February, according to public records.
The agency asked Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Brusic whether he had made findings in Hua’s case and, if not, whether he planned to do so at some point. Brusic answered no. He declined to comment on the case when contacted by The Times this week “because of pending litigation.”
Once an OII team reviews Hua’s case, the agency’s director, former prosecutor and judge Roger Rogoff, will decide whether to open a new investigation. It’s OII policy to open an investigation when “material new evidence” exists, such as a key new witness or crucial new expert opinion.
Once OII completes an investigation, it sends the results to the local prosecutor to determine whether the deadly force was justified or criminal charges should be filed. It doesn’t make a charging recommendation.
For Hua’s death, the results of an OII investigation would be sent to Brusic for a charging decision. That concerns Ly and her family’s attorney, Tim Hall, who said they wonder whether Brusic might continue to do nothing.
Ly and her family believe the Yakima County jail’s internal investigation, which found no policy violations, was particularly problematic, she said.
OII’s investigations aren’t designed to determine whether officers have complied with their own policies and can’t use statements provided by officers during internal investigations, noted Castro, the OII spokesperson.
Still, Ly hopes the process “will bring transparency and accountability to those who killed Hien and those who tried to bury this story,” she wrote. She also hopes it will raise awareness about the dangers of incarceration.
“Hien ended up in jail because he had a mental crisis,” Ly wrote. “He did not deserve a death sentence.”