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Prosecutor: No charges warranted in jail inmate’s suicide

Posted at 6:26 PM, May 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-19 18:26:07-04
Jail cell where Martell Hadley died. Courtesy Berrien County Prosecutor's Office.

Jail cell where Martell Hadley died. Courtesy Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) – An investigation has found no evidence of foul play in the death of a 24-year-old inmate discovered hanging in his cell at a southwestern Michigan jail.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic says Thursday in a release that his only conclusion is that Martell Hadley committed suicide and that no criminal charges are warranted.

Hadley was in a single-person cell at the Berrien County Jail in St. Joseph on Feb. 27 when a deputy found his body hanging by a sheet tied to a cold air vent about eight feet from the floor.

Attempts to resuscitate Hadley were unsuccessful.

Sepic says recorded phone calls and a note Hadley had written the night of his death reflect his apparent frustration over a personal matter.

Hadley was in jail for fleeing police.