Jonathan Magbie

Who was Jonathan Magbie?

Jonathan Magbie was a quadriplegic who died in jail while serving a ten-day sentence for marijuana possession.

Magbie was paralyzed from the neck down after being struck by a drunk driver at the age of four. In 2004, he was charged with marijuana possession after police found a marijuana cigarette and a loaded gun in the vehicle in which he was stopped. Although he had never been convicted of a criminal offense and although he required private nursing care for as much as 20 hours a day, Magbie was given a ten-day sentence in the D.C. jail in September 2004 by D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin. Lacking a ventilator, he died in city custody four days later. This provoked a series of op-ed pieces in the Washington Post by columnist Colbert I. King.

Magbie's mother, with the help of the ACLU, filed a lawsuit accusing the District government and Greater Southeast Community Hospital of failing to give him proper care. The lawsuit was settled out of court.