The Ohio Attorney General’s Office is taking over the case of a former Richland County corrections officer accused of causing the death of a jail inmate.

Common Pleas Judge Brent Robinson at a hearing Thursday granted the joint request of Forrest Thompson, the Medina County prosecutor who was brought on as a special prosecutor, and Richland County Prosecutor Jodie Schumacher.

Mark Cooper, 57, is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one a first-degree felony, the other a third-degree felony; and reckless homicide, a third-degree felony.

His charges are in connection with the death of Alexander Rios, 28, after the inmate was subdued by several corrections officers Sept. 19, 2019. Rios was in the county jail on a warrant.

A jury deliberated for 12 hours over the course of three days in November before the foreperson sent a note to Robinson indicating they could not come to a consensus on any of the three counts Cooper faced.

The judge declared a mistrial.

Special prosecutor approached attorney general’s office

“Obviously, this case needs to be retried, and we acknowledge that as such,” Thompson said Thursday. “After the mistrial, I began to reach out to the attorney general’s office for a number of issues.

“Number one was to determine if they had an interest in taking the case or assisting with the case. Number two was the financial aspect.”

Thompson noted the family of Rios has filed a civil lawsuit against the Richland County Coroner’s Office regarding the cause of death, which is listed as excited delirium.

Rios ran from a holding cell on the date in question, leading several corrections officers to chase him and try to restrain him.

In a jail video, several corrections officers can be seen holding Rios down, stepping and kneeling on his back while an officer punches his head into the concrete floor and they struggle to handcuff him.

Cooper, described during the trial as weighing 250 pounds, stood on Rios’ back with both feet, which prosecutors claimed caused his death.

Following the confrontation, Rios was taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, but he never regained consciousness. His family took him off life support eight days later.

“It was a very difficult conversation to have about her (Schumacher) being able to acknowledge the fiscal responsibility of this case,” Thompson said. “Medina County shouldn’t pay for it.”

He said the attorney general’s office chose to assume full responsibility for the retrial.

Schumacher noted the corrections officers who could be called as witnesses “are still my clients in their working capacity, so I have that issue.”

Richland County will cover cost of retrial

She said she has approached Richland County commissioners about supplementing or creating a special fund to cover the criminal case.

“The attorney general’s office cannot fund the case,” Schumacher said.

Micah Ault and Drew Wood were on hand from the AG’s office.

“We step into situations like this all the time,” Ault told the judge. “This is kind of what we do. Whether we’re assisting or taking over the case, we’re flexible.”

Ault did ask Robinson about the April 15 date for the retrial, saying it would affect who at the AG’s office would handle the case.

Robinson kept the trial date, saying he cleared his docket for that time.

Defense attorney James Mayer III said he “didn’t have any specific position” about the request for the AG’s office to take the case but did say he was surprised by the motion.

He asked Robinson to remove electronic monitoring for Cooper, noting it costs his client $400 a month, while he also is paying to retain Mayer for his services.

“He (Cooper) poses absolutely no flight risk,” Mayer said.

Robinson granted the motion.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Ohio Attorney General’s Office will handle inmate death case retrial