After hung jury, San Diego DA moves to dismiss case against doctor in inmate death

The criminal case was dismissed Wednesday against a doctor who faced an involuntary manslaughter charge for the death of an inmate at the Las Colinas jail in Santee.

Prosecutors moved Wednesday to dismiss the lone count against Friederike Von Lintig, 59, less than a week after an El Cajon jury voted 9-3 in favor of acquitting her in the Nov. 11, 2019, death of 24-year-old Elisa Serna.

The same jury also found nurse Danalee Pascua, 39, not guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Friday.

Von Lintig was the physician on duty the day Serna died, while Pascua was the last nurse to see Serna before her death.

Serna died shortly after she collapsed in her cell in the jail's medical observation unit, five days after she was booked into the jail.

Prosecutors alleged that both Von Lintig and Pascua failed to properly treat Serna, who was suffering from symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal, including frequent vomiting and seizures. While her withdrawal symptoms were severe, Serna's condition could have been treated, prosecutors argued, yet she allegedly was often ignored or accused of faking her symptoms.

Following a brief Wednesday morning hearing that resulted in the dismissal of the case, Von Lintig's defense attorney, Dana Grimes, said her client feels "vindicated" by the result.

"It's been difficult for Dr. Von Lintig but it's not lost on her that at the end of the day, this is a tragedy that Ms. Serna passed away," Grimes said. "She thinks of her patients first. She is a loving and caring doctor, and always has been."

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office sent the following statement to NBC 7 on Wednesday:

“As the district attorney’s office, it is our duty to provide a voice to the most vulnerable of victims. Elisa Serna’s death was a tragedy that did not have to happen. When our team of prosecutors and investigators reviewed the case, we determined that criminal negligence substantially contributed to her death. There is nothing more sacred than the sanctity of life and when a life is in the custody and care of government, it must be safeguarded and provided with the appropriate medical care. We respect the decision of the jury in this case and are grateful to have a judicial process that allows us to bring these critical cases to the public.”

Von Lintig and Pascua remain defendants in an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by Serna's family, however, which also names San Diego County, former Sheriff Bill Gore and several other jail employees as defendants.

Serna's mother, Paloma Serna, said Wednesday that it was "very disappointing that the criminal case is over" but said those who saw her daughter in her last days would be "held accountable" through the civil case.

"She's not forgotten. We're still fighting. We tried our best. We did our best," Paloma Serna said. "It's not a failure. We refuse to be defeated. We're going to continue to fight on."

Grace Jun, one of the attorneys representing the Serna family, said the civil case was put off until the criminal case's conclusion, but now would be moving forward.

"What we intend to do in the civil case, which is not possible in a criminal case, is we intend to hold every single person at the sheriff's department accountable for their abysmal treatment of Elisa Serna," Jun said. "For the way that they dismissed her, accused her of lying, of malingering, of faking it, when she was just begging for help."

Jun said the civil case will show San Diego County has "a pattern and practice of neglecting seriously ill inmates."

The high rate of deaths at San Diego County jails has drawn criticism and scrutiny from the public and officials, with the California State Auditor publishing a scathing report in 2022 that stated the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's policies and practices regarding inmate care were deficient. Serna's family is among many others that have sued the county in connection with a loved one's in-custody death.