A federal judge has dismissed Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher from a civil suit stemming from the 2015 death of Mathew Ajibade in the Chatham County jail.

In a 23-page order filed last week, U.S. District Judge R. Stan Baker ruled Wilcher did not personally participate in depriving Ajibade of his constitutional rights nor did he establish a policy, practice or custom that led to such a deprivation.

“The undisputed evidence in this case established that Sheriff Wilcher did neither,” Baker ruled in ordering his dismissal from the suit and the case against him terminated.

In a series of orders, Baker also:

• Granted rulings for Deputy Lt. Debra Johnson and Deputy Andreus Evans-Martinez in the case, ruling that Johnson, who was watch commander, did not tase Ajibade and that Martinez did not make any physical contact with him.

He similarly dismissed both from the case.

• Ruled that Deputy Maxine Evans' failure to intervene in the conduct of other officers in a holding cell where Ajibade died did not violate his rights and ruled for her on an assault and battery claim. He also ruled she was entitled to qualified immunity on the claim of excessive force and granted her a summary judgment on that.

But Baker withheld a ruling on Evans on the issue of deliberate indifference to a serious medical need or on the plaintiff’s wrongful death claim and ordered her to file a supplemental brief by Aug. 26 to support her claim for summary judgment.

• Ordered a temporary stay and administratively closed the case until April 26 to allow the remaining parties in the suit to “re-access their status and the pending motions” in light of his summary judgment rulings.

He based that on what he called the “multitude of moving parts in this case and the recent dismissals of defendants.”

Baker’s rulings came in a suit filed in 2016 by the family and estate of Ajibade, a 21-year-old college student, who died Jan. 1, 2015, while in custody at the Chatham County jail.

He was arrested by Savannah-Chatham police for battery on his girlfriend and taken to the jail, where he became combative with deputies. He was removed to a holding cell and placed in a restraining chair, where deputies tased him while trying to bring him under control. A deputy was injured in the incident.

Ajibade was later found unresponsive and was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Chatham County Coroner Dr. William Wessinger said he and a Georgia Bureau of Investigation medical examiner who performed the autopsy determined the death resulted from homicide by blunt-force trauma suffered in a fight with law enforcement personnel.

Then-sheriff Al St. Lawrence fired nine deputies who were apparently present when Ajibade died. Three other deputies who allegedly were involved in the incident left the department earlier.

Two former sheriff’s deputies — including Evans — were subsequently acquitted on involuntary manslaughter charges but convicted on lesser counts.

Wilcher succeeded St. Lawrence and replaced him as a named defendant. Chatham County Attorney Jon Hart and attorney Ben Perkins represented Wilcher and the command staff in the suit.

In his order for Wilcher, Baker said, “No one disputes the tragedy of Mathew Ajibade’s death and emotional pain that his family has no doubt endured.”

But, he wrote, “the sheriff had no direct contact with Ajibade. Likewise, plaintiffs have not pointed to evidence that Ajibade’s death was a known or obvious consequence of the sheriff’s alleged tolerance of the unspecified inadequate care.”

Further, he said, plaintiffs “have failed to point to any evidence that Ajibade’s death was a ‘highly predictable consequence’ of the sheriff’s failure to act in any way.”

In addressing Johnson and Martinez's cases, Baker said it was “undisputed” that Johnson did not actually tase the detainee.

And, he said, Martinez heard Johnson tell Ajibade that if he continued to resist, he would be tased.

“Neither Johnson nor Martinez assisted in carrying Ajibade [to the holding cell] and Martinez never had any physical contact with him," Baker said, adding that Martinez ”understood his role at this time as being on ‘stand-by’ awaiting any instruction from Johnson.

“The closest [Martinez] came to the inside of the cell was when he helped hold the door open as the restraining chair was wheeled in behind Ajibade.”

He also ruled there was insufficient evidence that either Johnson or Martinez had the opportunity nor were in a position to intervene in what occurred in the holding cell.