Cayley Mandadi was a sophomore at Trinity University, a private school in San Antonio, TX. The circumstances surrounding her tragic death in 2017 continue to work through the criminal courts today, with a debate over whether she was killed by her boyfriend or died in an accident.
Now the case takes on a civil dimension with a wrongful death lawsuit filed both against Mandadi’s boyfriend and Trinity University for allegedly failing to prevent the tragedy.
In October 2017, Mandadi and her boyfriend Mark Howerton went to the Mala Luna music festival. What exactly happened is what the criminal courts are tasked with deciding, but we know this—Mandadi’s body was bruised beyond recognition, to the point her mother, Alison Steele, recalled asking, “Did she fall off a bridge? Did she fall out of a plane?”
In February 2018, police charged Howerton with murder. The defense argued that Mandadi’s fatal injuries were more consistent with a fall and that the defendant was telling the truth when he claimed to have rushed Mandadi to the hospital.
Dr. William Anderson, an expert witness summoned by Howerton’s legal team, said: “We don’t see any fractures to the eye sockets. We don’t see any fractures to the nose. We don’t see any kind of fractures on the face. That’s a pretty good indication we’re not talking about a full-frontal assault.”
In August 2018, a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The result allowed Howerton to go free. But a hung jury is not the same as acquittal and Howerton is not protected by double jeopardy. Prosecutors have re-filed charges and another trial will take place during the summer of 2021.
The prosecution alleges that Howerton assaulted and raped Mandadi, causing her injuries and eventually her death via blunt force trauma to the head.
Now, Steele is bringing forth this new lawsuit against Trinity, saying the university had ample evidence that Howerton was a threat to her daughter, but didn’t act.
Steele alleges that Howerton repeatedly made threats against Mandadi and did physical damage to her dorm room. In spite of these threats being known to campus police, Howerton was allowed to go after only “a cursory discussion.” Furthermore, the university then blamed Mandadi for the damage done to her dorm.
Steele was also never notified by Trinity of the potential threats to her daughter’s safety. “Even though she was clearly the victim of stalking, harassment…and intimidation…Trinity University did nothing to inform or notify Ms. Mandadi’s parents of her plight or its intention to blame Ms. Mandadi by holding her responsible for the damage.”
The core legal charges against Trinity swing on the allegations of “negligence” and “deliberate indifference.” That is, the plaintiffs clearly believe the school did not simply make an error in judgement regarding Howerton’s intentions. The lawsuit lays out the facts for why Steele is convinced that university personnel failed to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would have, and that the failure was motivated by financial concerns.
While the criminal and civil cases are separate matters, they are inextricably linked. If Howerton is acquitted in criminal court, it would seem a stretch for a civil jury to blame Trinity for not seeing the danger. If he is convicted, that’s an entirely different story.
Regardless, a terrible tragedy that became a national story has added another layer to the ongoing legal battle.