Arnette Richardson, a 66-year-old inmate at the Halifax County Detention Center, died from complications of multiple blunt force injuries, according to the autopsy report from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
rrspin.com requested the report in April and it was received earlier this month.
The case remains in Halifax County Superior Court and the most recent filings were made by District 7 Public Defender Tonza D. Ruffin on behalf of Robert Earl Smith Jr., who is charged with first-degree murder in the case.
Last month Ruffin filed a discovery request and in September filed a notice of defense that says Smith intends to offer a defense at trial based on mental infirmity and diminished capacity, according to documents filed in eCourts. The notice of defense does not go into detail.
The summary of the autopsy, which was performed April 1 at the ECU Brody School of Medicine, says Richardson’s injuries were sustained in an assault while an inmate. He died approximately ten days later at ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville.
External Injuries
According to the report, Richardson sustained the following external injuries:
Multiple bruises over the left forehead and upper left eyelid
A three-inch laceration just above the right ear
Multiple bruises and scrapes on the dorsal right hand.
Key injuries and immediate complications
The report says he sustained the following skeletal and muscular injuries:
Multiple rib fractures, specifically on the left side with lateral fractures of ribs six through nine. On the left side he sustained an anterior fracture on rib two and a posterior fracture of rib three.
Hemorrhage in the right temporalis muscle upon reflection of the scalp.
The following internal complications were reported in the autopsy:
Pus within the abdominal space.
Accumulation of pus around the stomach, transverse colon, and left kidney.
Probable acute lung infection in the upper lobes of both lungs.
Evidence of treatment
The body showed multiple signs of recent, aggressive medical intervention, including a large stapled and sutured incision on the abdomen, a smaller stapled incision on the left abdomen, catheters, a medicated patch, and a Foley catheter.
Underlying medical conditions
Cardiovascular disease
High blood pressure and hardening/narrowing of arteries
Mild blockages in the heart arteries.
Widening of the main artery from the heart with some fatty deposits.
Slight hardening of the small arteries in the kidneys.
Neurologic conditions
Severe hardening and thickening of small brain vessels
Small, deep-seated strokes and very tiny strokes, some of which were old and some recent
Cerebral atrophy
Low-level Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change and possible primary age-related tauopathy.
“The neuropathologist explicitly stated that no significant intracranial trauma was found that would have caused or contributed to death,” the report said.
Charges
At the time of the assault on March 20, the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office had charged Smith with attempted first-degree murder and assault inflicting serious bodily injury. Detective C. Watkins wrote that Smith willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously assaulted Arnette Richardson and inflicted upon him serious bodily injury and severe bleeding of the brain.
The first-degree attempted murder warrant says that Smith unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously with malice aforethought attempted to kill and murder Richardson on March 20.
The sheriff’s office said then that Smith assaulted his cellmate using his hands and feet. It is not clear what prompted the assault.
