BAKERSVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- No charges will be filed against the sheriff or a jailer in a jailhouse fire that killed eight inmates trapped in cells, the prosecutor said Friday.
District Attorney Tom Rusher said there was no evidence that Mitchell County Sheriff Ken Fox violated criminal law in the May 3 blaze. Jailer Diana Greene, he said, changed from being a jailer responsible for containing inmates to ``a liberator of people.''
It was not immediately clear if Rusher would announce charges against anyone else. His news conference about his report on the deadly fire continued almost two hours after it began.
The fire at the two-story, four-cell jail was believed to have started in a storage room that had an electrical heater with cardboard stacked next to it.
Authorities said seven victims were trapped in a second-floor cell, and the eighth was in a holding cell on the first floor. They suffered few burns and probably died from the smoke and heat, authorities said.
Nine inmates escaped after law officers and firefighters fought through the smoke to reach them in a first-floor cell.
``The evidence shows clearly that Sheriff Fox was not present at the jail. He was somewhere else,'' Rusher said. ``And he gave no communication that the prisoners should not be allowed to leave.''
Greene, he said, went as far as to give her cell keys to jail visitors who offered to help rescue inmates, he said.
A state investigation resulted in $7,350 in fines against the county, which built the storage addition but hadn't properly installed barriers and smoke detectors.
Rusher's decision was anticipated by some victims' families.
``I didn't get an impression (from Rusher) of anything but that the law did everything it could,'' said Mark Thomas, who lost his son, Mark, 20. ``It's pushed the tables around so that the families have to prove the burden of guilt.''
Attorneys on both sides said that they have discussed a financial settlement. Scott MacLatchie, an attorney representing Mitchell County, said he didn't know how Rusher's investigation would affect the discussions.
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