Chad Lenoch Dies After Incarceration in Guadalupe County Jail

The Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office, in Seguin, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Chad Lenoch. Mr. Lenoch was 44 years old at the time of his death. We provide information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

The report indicates that Mr. Lenoch was originally incarcerated in the Guadalupe County jail at 6:50 p.m. on October 4, 2022, and that he passed away at 6:50 p.m. on October 10, 2022. The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“On October 10, 2022 at 0708 hours Chad Lenoch DOB XX/XX/1978 SID TXXXXXXXXX was found unresponsive. Attempts to achieve a response from Mr. Lenoch were performed to no avail. EMS was called and upon their arrival they took over providing care for Mr. Lenoch and departed the facility at 0735 hours. By the time Mr. Lenoch arrived at Guadalupe Regional Medical Center he was no longer able to breathe on his own. After assessment he was transported to University Hospital in San Antonio Texas. There Mr. Lenoch’s condition worsened and CPR along with another medical procedure were performed. At 1014 hours Mr. Lenoch was pronounced deceased.”

The report also indicates that Mr. Lenoch was in a detox cell, and was arrested as a result of a drug and/or alcohol issue. Pursuant to the United States Constitution, Texas jails must provide reasonable medical care to detainees. This would include having in place an appropriate detoxification protocol. Moreover, simply having in place the detoxification protocol is insufficient. It must actually be implemented and appropriately used.

We have no information regarding whether and to what extent Mr. Lenoch was receiving appropriate medical treatment in the Guadalupe County jail. However, with or without regard to what happened to Mr. Lenoch, when a person dies in a County jail, and jailers and/or medical personnel are deliberately indifferent to that person’s serious medical needs, then certain surviving family members may be able to file a federal constitutional rights lawsuit. We are prosecuting several such cases across Texas.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.