Former prison inmate sues state for shooting

Donald Hixon's 12- to 48-month prison sentence for possession of a stolen vehicle almost turned into a death sentence.

The 22-year-old was doing his time at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs in December 2006 when a prison guard, Paul Chaffee, blasted him with a shotgun outside a cell after Hixon had fought with his cellmate.

Hixon says the shooting was entirely unwarranted. He wasn't armed. He didn't pose a threat to the guard or anyone else, he said.

A grand jury agreed with Hixon. Chaffee is now facing a charge of battery with a deadly weapon.

Hixon's gallbladder and sections of his intestine had to be removed after the shooting. Shotgun pellets were lodged in his kidney, liver and stomach, and he continues to suffer pain from the shooting and the surgeries.

"I know I'm going to have problems for the rest of my life," he said from his Las Vegas home Tuesday.

Hixon was released from prison about three weeks ago after completing his sentence and is suing Chaffee and the state prison system in federal court, alleging that the prison system didn't properly train or supervise Chaffee and that Chaffee shot him maliciously.

"I want him where he (Chaffee) can't ever do that again," Hixon said.

Marc Saggese, Hixon's attorney, said the case shows that systematic problems exist in the Nevada Department of Corrections.

"There was absolutely no justification for the shooting of Donald Hixon. He was unarmed and not confrontational. The prison's failures to properly train their officers in the established constitutional limits on use of deadly force constitutes a deliberate indifference," Saggese said.

Department of Corrections officials declined to comment in depth about the shooting. Suzanne Pardee, the department's spokeswoman, referred questions to the Nevada attorney general's office. The prison's inspector general investigated the shooting and then handed the case over to the attorney general's office for follow-up and prosecution, Pardee said.

Chaffee, a six-year veteran of the prison department, was fired on July 3 after the attorney general's office investigation.

Chaffee could not be reached for comment. But in court documents, his attorney Thomas Pitaro states that Chaffee shot Hixon in the line of duty "with the sole purpose of ending the altercation and preserving the peace."

Hixon had been at High Desert State Prison for only five days when he was shot. On the morning of Dec. 5, 2006, Hixon got into a fight with his cellmate because the cellmate was making too much noise, according to testimony Hixon gave to a grand jury.

Using an intercom inside the cell, Hixon called for the guard to come and help. Hixon's cell door opened and he peeked outside the cell and then stepped out.

As soon as Hixon stepped outside the cell, Chaffee fired a blank round from his shotgun, Hixon testified. The blast shocked Hixon, who immediately interlaced his fingers on the top of his head and, still outside the cell, put his nose to the door of the cell.

He said he waited for Chaffee to tell him what to do. But no commands came, he said.

About five seconds later, Chaffee shot him in the torso with a live round from the shotgun from about 30 feet away, Hixon testified.

"It felt like I was kicked in my chest. I couldn't get my breath back," he said.

Hixon was airlifted to University Medical Center.

According to court documents, Pitaro stated that Chaffee aimed to the left of Hixon and fired without meaning to hit him. He stated that Hixon was pushed into the gunfire, but Hixon disputes that.

David Molnar, the supervisory criminal investigator for the inspector general for the Department of Corrections, told the grand jury July 19 that he concluded that the shooting wasn't justified.

"There was no reason to shoot an inmate at that hour," he told the grand jury. The shooting occurred about 5:30 a.m., a time when no other inmates would have been outside of their cells.

Molnar had interviewed Hixon at the hospital and went to the prison, where he talked to about 85 inmates and identified about 20 as witnesses to the shooting. He also had talked to the associate warden of the prison and had interviewed Hixon's cellmate.

Molnar concluded that Chaffee broke prison policy by opening Hixon's cell door and allowing him to get out without restraining the inmate.

Gary Peck, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and a longtime critic of the Department of Corrections, said the shooting was disturbing because of the amount of excessive force used.

"It sends yet another red flag about another facet of the Department of Corrections that may well be dysfunctional," he said.