A hearing scheduled to start Monday, where lawyers for the state were scheduled to argue for the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the family of a corrections officer killed during an 18-hour siege at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna in February, has been postponed by a federal judge.
The Wilmington News Journal reports that attorneys representing former Gov. Jack Markell, who is named in the lawsuit, asked for the hearing's postponement last week in order to discuss an amendment to the complaint.
Attorneys representing Lt. Steven Floyd who was killed when inmates took over Building C at the JTVCC on February 1 and the other employees who were held, filed a lawsuit in April. They claimed state officials put money before safety at the Delaware Department of Correction for more than 16 years.
Besides former Gov. Markell, former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner is also named in the lawsuit, which claims the deadly standoff was a direct result of both administrations under-staffing prisons.
Meantime, the state has filed charges against 18 inmates in relation to the prison uprising. Sixteen men have been charged with Lt. Floyd's murder and an additional two have been charged with aiding in the stand-off.
