Rodney Paul Guerra Dies in Childress County, Texas Jail – Texas Rangers Investigating

The Childress County Sheriff’s Office, in Childress, Texas, filed a report regarding the custodial death of Rodney Paul Guerra. Mr. Guerra was 49 years old at the time of his death. We provide in this post information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone.

The report indicates that Mr. Guerra was originally incarcerated on January 22, 2022. It also indicates that he passed away on April 8, 2022 at 4:28 a.m. The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:

“On April 8, 2022 at approximately 0430, I, Sheriff Danny Gillem, was notified of an in-custody death. I arrived at approximately 0443 along with Captain Gregorio Garcia. We both went back to D-pod, specifically, D-2. The inmate (Guerra, Rodney Paul), H/M with date of birth of XX-XX-XXXX was in the seated position on his bunk slumped forward. He had foam coming from his mouth. During intake, the inmate stated he had a medical history of hepatitis and a history of seizures. The inmate had just started an antibiotic (Amox/K Clav 875-125 mg) due to a boil to his groin. The Justice of the Peace, Randy Rister, pronounced the death at 0428. During this time, I contacted Ranger William “Jack” Gillentine who will be conducting the investigation. At 0536, I contacted Jason Jouett of TCJS and left a message requesting a return call. Jason called me back at 0702. At that time, Jason advised me to send this email and Wendy Wisniski would be my contact person from TCJS.”

The report does not provide any information regarding Mr. Guerra’s long-term medical issues, and how those were being treated. The United States Constitution requires jailers in Texas to provide reasonable medical care to inmates. If jailers fail to do so, and an inmate dies as a result, then certain surviving family members may be able to bring a lawsuit.

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