DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – The defense team for a man charged in the death of Irvo Otieno, who died in custody at a Virginia-run mental hospital, rested its case Thursday. The rest came after the defense called a third expert witness who disagreed with the autopsy’s cause of death and said they believed Otieno suffered a sudden cardiac death. The March 6, 2023, death of Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, while in custody of Henrico County sheriff’s deputies at Virginia’s Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County led to outrage and calls for mental health reforms after footage of his death was released last year. Defense attorneys for Wavie Jones, a former security staff member at Central State Hospital, called three medical professionals over the course of two days to challenge the opinion of the medical examiner. Dr. Jennifer Bowers, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy and was called as an expert witness by the prosecution, testified that Otieno died of mechanical and positional asphyxiation with restraints. The witnesses called by Jones’s defense were experts in various medical fields -- cardiology, pulmonary and internal medicine and forensic pathology. They said they believed that the evidence in the case showed Otieno died of a sudden cardiac event. The defense’s witnesses said they reviewed Dr. Bowers’s autopsy report and photos, Otieno’s medical records and a video showing Otieno’s death in an admissions suite at Central State Hospital. Two of the defense’s witnesses said scarring on Otieno’s heart and the video showing him suddenly stop moving were consistent with a sudden cardiac death. All of them said other factors, including Otieno’s enlarged heart, obesity, stress, exertion, lack of food and sleep around the time of his death, contributed to the death. Dinwiddie prosecutors in the county’s commonwealth’s attorney’s office brought Dr. Bowers back on the stand Thursday for their rebuttal of the testimony of the defense’s witnesses. Bowers said she stood by her cause of death that Otieno suffocated. After Bowers took the stand, Jones’s attorneys again moved to have the judge in the case dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charge over lack of evidence. The judge again denied the effort and said the jury would have the final say in the case. Ten – seven Henrico sheriff’s deputies and three hospital orderlies -- were initially indicted but only three still face charges. At the start of the trial on Monday, Jones pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys argued that Otieno died of a sudden cardiac event and that their client was innocent. Jurors will get instructions and closing arguments will be made by the prosecution and defense before the jury goes to deliberate whether Jones is guilty or not of involuntary manslaughter. Stay with 8News for updates.