A 47-year-old Cheyenne woman died in jail Saturday night, the sheriff’s office says.
Patricia Kay Michaelis was brought into the Laramie County Detention Center at 9:20 p.m. Saturday on shoplifting charges, according to a Tuesday statement by the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.
“Patricia was brought to us uncooperative,” the statement says. “She refused to answer questions, but followed basic directions given by jail staff.”
Medical staffers conducted an initial medical assessment where Michaelis showed no signs of needing medical clearance from the hospital before being booked, the statement says.
She was searched and placed in a holding cell.
“Later, during routine checks, staff discovered that Patricia was unresponsive,” says the statement.
Deputies and medical personnel started giving medical assistance, including CPR, the document says, but at 11:15 p.m., Michaelis was pronounced dead.
The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) has been asked to conduct an independent investigation of the incident, the statement says.
“Cause of death is unknown at this time,” the statement says.
The statement says that once DCI’s review is complete the findings will be shared with Sheriff Brian Kozak, and the sheriff’s office will give more information to the public.
Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid declined to give information about the case generally, but said the autopsy had not yet happened as of midday Monday.
"My deepest condolences to the friends and family," added Reid.
Jail Clearances
Discussions of jail clearances surfaced in the recent federal lawsuit of Wheatland man Brian Hays, whose lawsuit against the Platte County Sheriff’s Office over a jail medical clearance issue was dismissed in June — by a reluctant judge.
Hays had a withdrawal seizure in the jail’s shower after being booked with a 0.357% blood-alcohol content in early 2023, court documents say. He suffered a head injury and had to re-learn to walk over the course of several weeks, says his original complaint.
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl dismissed the lawsuit in June, writing that Hays didn’t show his right against cruel and unusual punishment was violated.
That’s because of a provision of relevant case law that Skavdahl cast as a possible loophole for police personnel to retain their qualified immunity.
Deputies couldn’t tell Hays was in serious need of medical attention when he was being booked, because he seemed physically competent, the judge noted.
On the other hand, the deputies couldn’t tell how drunk Hays was because as a hardened alcoholic, he didn’t wear the symptoms of it as apparently.
Yet it’s hardened alcoholics who are prone to suffer the most from later withdrawals, wrote Skavdahl.
“The current state of the law seems to disadvantage the serious alcohol or drug abuser when they may be the most in need of medical intervention upon arrest,” wrote Skavdahl.
In Hays’ case, jail officials did not follow their own protocols for admitting people, the judge added.
What the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals would have said about that is a question for another case and another time.
Though Hays appealed Skavdahl's dismissal, he entered into mediation with Platte County Sheriff's officials once the case got to that level. And he filed a stipulated, or agreed-upon, dismissal motion last week.
Cowboy State Daily's request for that settlement agreement is pending.
Summoned
In Michaelis’ case, she’d also been charged in a felony drug case, which the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office knocked down to a misdemeanor level this month.
Laramie County Deputy District Attorney Rocky Edmonds last week, Aug. 19, asked the case judge to dismiss the felony case so it could proceed in the misdemeanor court instead.
That stemmed from allegations that Michaelis was caught with meth on March 4. She was summoned this month to appear at a Sept. 18 hearing.
On Monday after Michaelis’ death, Edmonds asked the court to dismiss the case altogether.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
