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Man Who Murdered Teen Before Prom Files $300K Lawsuit Claiming Prison Mishandled His Stomach Problems
Christopher Plaskon claims he lost 17 pounds in four months because of his prison's poor medical care.
A man convicted as a teen of killing a classmate hours before their high school’s prom is now filing a $300,000 lawsuit against the Connecticut Department of Correction, alleging that they’ve mishandled his severe stomach problems.
Christopher Plaskon, who stabbed 16-year-old Maren Sanchez to death in 2014 after she rejected his prom invitation, filed a lawsuit last week against his warden, his correction officer and the medical staff at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, the Hartford Courant reported. Filing for deliberate indifference, the 23-year-old claims that the facility’s lukewarm efforts led to ineffective treatments and needlessly prolonged delays.
Plaskon said his symptoms first appeared in 2018, two years into his 25-year prison sentence, according to court documents acquired by the Courant. Experiencing stomach pain, nausea and diarrhea, Plaskon sought medical help but alleges he faced a bureaucracy largely unsympathetic to his medical needs.
Plaskon claims he’s been ping-ponged between apathetic medical providers, twice receiving medications that only worsened his symptoms. He’s also allegedly faced months-long delays between appointments multiple times.
In late November, Plaskon allegedly suffered stomach pains so severe that he was taken to the prison medical unit at 3 a.m. They allegedly found that he’d lost 17 pounds in the past four months — a decline that he chalks up to indifferent caretakers.
Plaskon was arrested in April 2014 after attacking Maren Sanchez the morning before their junior prom, according to the New Haven Register. Sanchez had rejected Plaskon’s advances and he stabbed her numerous times in the throat, neck and torso.
At trial, Plaskon claimed that the attack was driven by a mental disorder and that he’d had auditory and visual hallucinations before the murder.
“The kid was psychotic,” his attorney, Edward Gavin, told the Register.
Plaskon pleaded no contest to murder in 2016 and was given the minimum sentence of 25 years, NBC Connecticut reported. Because he was a minor at the time of the incident he’ll be eligible for parole in 2029 — 13 years into his sentence.
A spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Correction declined a request for comment by Oxygen.com, saying it’s against facility policy to comment on active lawsuits.
