District attorney releases report on in-custody death of man arrested in Newport Beach burglary
![Michael Lane Gilreath, 61, died in custody on May 18, 2020.](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c6a4ac2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/840x560+0+0/resize/1200x800!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb8%2Fe1%2F42307f5f470f93287d3fb34a5a99%2Foc-jail.jpeg)
The Orange County district attorney’s office released the investigation and findings on the in-custody death of Michael Lane Gilreath, 61, on Tuesday, nearly a year after the fact.
Gilreath died on May 18, 2020, and the autopsy ruled his death as a suicide by hanging, according to the report submitted to Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes on April 29, 2021, by investigators.
Gilreath was arrested by the Newport Beach Police Department on April 26, 2020, on suspicion of burglary, attempted burglary and for being a felon in possession of ammunition. Gilreath was transferred to the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange on May 1 that year and remained in quarantine with other new inmates.
The report indicates that Gilreath’s cellmate, who is unnamed in the report, tested positive for COVID-19 10 days later.
Gilreath was then relocated to a “higher” quarantine section of the facility, where a fellow inmate housed directly next to him described Gilreath as someone who was quiet, kept to himself and only interacted with deputies to be let in and out of his cell.
On May 18, investigators said that Gilreath was removed from his cell at approximately 11 a.m. to participate in a video court hearing and returned by 12 p.m. He was seen on video moving in his cell until about 12:26 p.m. A deputy later discovered Gilreath unresponsive in his cell. Gilreath was declared dead later that afternoon.
“Although the [Orange County Sheriff’s Department] owed Gilreath a duty of care, the evidence does not support a finding that this duty was in any way breached, either intentionally or through criminal negligence,” wrote investigators in the report. “It was not foreseeable that Gilreath would take his own life while he was in custody.”
Court records indicate that Gilreath pleaded not guilty to both felony charges and the one misdemeanor charge on April 28, 2020.
The D.A.’s office also released reports on two other deaths in-custody on Tuesday.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.