SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, Mich. — Murder suspect Mark David Latunski is back in jail after being found unresponsive the night before.
State police confirmed that murder suspect Mark Latunski had been rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive in his Shiawassee County jail cell on Feb. 18.
State police say at 5:08 pm on Tuesday, a trooper was dispatched to the Shiawassee County Jail. He found Mark Latunski unresponsive in his cell.
It appeared Latunski had been on a hunger strike and hadn’t eaten since his arrival at the jail.
On Wednesday, he was taken to Owosso Memorial Healthcare for a follow-up visit. He was medically cleared and returned to Shiawassee County Jail at 4 p.m.
Wednesday, Fox 47 received a statement from Latunski's lawyer, Doug Corwin, who said he was not on a hunger strike, but he is on dietary restrictions at the jail. Corwin added that the jail has been accommodating the requests.
On Tuesday night, with the trooper accompanying him, Latunski was taken by ambulance, to Owosso Memorial Health Care just after 5 p.m., and he was back in jail by 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.
This was because, during a cell check, Latunski wouldn't respond verbally to deputies. They say that they noticed normal breathing patterns, however, they used smelling stimulants to get a response. For precautionary purposes, they took Latunski to the hospital.
Officials at the hospital said there were "no health deficiencies."
The situation has sparked a discussion of how high profile cases or inmates with mental illness are handled in jails. Fox 47 wanted to know if there's any kind of special treatment or extra measures taken in these kinds of cases.
The Ingham County Sheriff said, in most cases, there is no special treatment.
Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth is not involved in the Latunski case, but he said every inmate is treated the same at the Ingham County Jail. However, inmates can be moved if they pose a threat or security issue to their cellmate.
Sheriff Wrigglesworth said guards give extra attention to inmates suffering from a mental illness or medical condition.
"Some of those things give us pause and create a need for us to keep a little better eye on them while they're here," Wrigglesworth said.
The sheriff wouldn't go into too much detail of their protocol for inmates with mental illness, but we're told if it creates a disturbance to the facility, the inmate will be moved to the jail's receiving area.
An insanity plea had been granted for Latunski in the murder of 25-year-old Kevin Bacon of Swartz Creek.
Latunski is awaiting results from mental competency testing before the Bacon murder case proceeds. They say the results could be in as soon as March 2020.
The testing is to determine whether he's competent to stand trial and whether he was competent at the time when he allegedly killed Bacon.
His attorney, Shiawassee County Public Defender Doug Corwin has also said that there is a name issue. At the arraignment on Dec. 30, 2019, Latunski said his name is Edgar Thomas Hill and that Mark David Latunski is his nephew.
Corwin added that Latunski has also said he's from the Thomas Clan, a royal family out of Wales.
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