Jail Evades Court Order, Bullet Fragments Remain in Suspect

A jailed defendant with bullets lodged in his body was denied treatment, despite a court order.

Walter Scott Sherwood, 56, was shot running from deputies in Menifee after allegedly robbing a Temecula bank.

A judge ordered the jail to have a physician consider him for surgery, but the jail ignored the order, attorneys said on Thursday.

“A nurse saw the defendant, not a medical doctor,” Judge Kelly L. Hansen said.

He ordered a member of the jail’s medical staff testify that a physician saw Sherwood during a hearing on March 24.

The defendant has a bullet lodged in his diaphragm, a bullet fragment in his abdomen and a stent that was supposed to be temporary in an artery in his leg that was severed by a bullet, said Leah Kisner, his attorney.

He’s being held at Robert Presley Detention Center on $120,000 bail, according to jail records.

The stent has outlived its usefulness, and now the defendant lost the feeling in his leg, Kisner said. He appeared in court Thursday in a wheelchair.

The reason for the negligence is unclear, Kisner said in a February hearing, when the judge issued the first order. “Just because you’re in custody doesn’t mean you don’t deserve medical treatment,” she said.

In the past, jail physicians saw Sherwood, but only after a judge issued a court order, Kisner said. If the jail continues to deny the defendant treatment, she plans to issue a writ of habeas corpus, which will force the jail to either explain why the treatment was denied or let him see an outside physician. Sherwood is a veteran and can get services through the VA hospital, she said.

Sherwood faces charges of felony robbery, burglary and committing a felony within five years of being released from prison. He was convicted of drug possession and drunken driving from a previous incident and was recently charged with burglary and shoplifting in another unrelated incident, according to court records.

The robbery happened at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 6 at the Pacific Western Bank in the Town Center Plaza on Ynez Road, sheriff’s officials said.

Sherwood gave a note to a bank teller saying he had a gun. It demanded she give him money, according to sheriff’s officials. Sherwood got away in a rental car and sped north to Menifee with law enforcement close behind, officials said.

Sherwood crashed into another car in the 28000 block of Del Monte Drive in Menifee, jumped out of his car and ran out onto the Cherry Hills Golf Course. Patrol cars and a helicopter sped the area, and investigators began a house-to-house search, officials said.

Four sheriff’s deputies and a Murrieta police officer found Sherwood hiding behind a house, so Sherwood pointed a silver handgun at them. The deputies and officer opened fire, hitting him in several places, sheriff’s officials said.

The suspect ran onto the golf course again, but he collapsed between Worcester and Ridgemoor roads. His gun turned out to be a replica, and nobody else was hurt in the incident, officials said.

City News Service contributed to this report.