Grant County prevails in a wrongful death suit stemming from a 2018 jail overdose after the Washington Court of Appeals ruled that state law provided a full legal defense to the county’s actions.

The ruling, issued October 8 by the Division III panel, overturns a prior decision that had allowed claims to proceed against the county following the death of Derek Batton, who died from a heroin overdose while incarcerated.

At issue was whether a 2021 update to Washington’s felony-defense statute applied to Batton’s case, even though he passed away nearly three years before the law changed.

The court determined that the version of RCW 4.24.420 in effect at the time of his death governed the outcome—not whether jail staff acted negligently.

According to court documents, Batton entered the Grant County Jail on August 10, 2018. He shared a cell with Jordan Tebow, who was booked the next day and brought heroin into the facility.

Tebow offered Batton the contraband, which he consumed. By August 12, Batton was found unresponsive in his cell; his death certificate cited acute morphine intoxication, most likely due to heroin ingestion.

His parents, Barbara Anderson and Rod Batton, along with his estate, filed suit alleging that jail personnel failed to conduct thorough searches of incoming inmates, missed signs of drug use during routine monitoring, and did not intervene quickly enough during the overdose.

The county moved to dismiss the case under the felony-defense statute as it stood in 2018. That law shields government entities from liability when a person suffers injury or dies while engaged in a felony, and that offense directly contributes to the harm.

A key point of contention centered on which moment constituted the “event” triggering the defense. The estate contended the relevant event was the jail’s acceptance of Tebow and its failure to detect his heroin.

The appeals court disagreed, identifying Batton’s possession and use of the drug as the pivotal act.

Acting Chief Judge John Cooney, authoring the opinion, explained that the statutory text points to the immediate cause of injury—here, the ingestion of heroin—rather than upstream decisions by correctional staff.

The court noted that both parties acknowledged Batton’s heroin possession qualified as a felony under RCW 9.94.041(2).

While the estate warned that such a reading could permit staff to permit hazardous items into facilities without accountability, the court stated the 2018 statute did not require such a fault-based evaluation once the statutory conditions were satisfied.

In 2021, lawmakers updated the law to require juries to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the deceased was committing a felony at the time of the triggering event and that the offense directly caused the harm.

The estate asked the court to apply this newer standard retroactively.

The appeals court declined, noting earlier drafts of the bill explicitly included retroactive application but lawmakers deleted those provisions before the measure became law.

The court determined that the removal of the language indicated an intention for the changes to apply only to future events.

This litigation has undergone a prior appellate process. In 2023, the Court of Appeals determined that the county could not rely on the felony defense or a separate statutory comparative-fault defense.

The Washington Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2026, remanding the case for further consideration of remaining questions regarding the felony-defense statute.

Thursday’s judgment addresses those specific inquiries, ruling in favor of the county. The matter is now returned to the trial court with directions to enter a judgment for Grant County.