U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines on Tuesday stated that she agreed with a recommendation — issued in January by a magistrate judge — to dismiss parts of a lawsuit brought on behalf of the estate of Rhonda Russell, a Blair County corrections officer who died in the line of duty more than four years ago.

The 47-year-old corrections officer was guarding several inmates during a session of Blair Central court on the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2021, when she was taken hostage by an inmate awaiting a preliminary hearing.

The inmate, Christopher J. Aikens, 58, a man with a lengthy criminal record, earlier in the month was facing new charges and, according to reports, he was desperate to escape.

Aikens, who was returning from a restroom in the cellblock where he was housed, suddenly snatched Russell’s firearm and held her as a human shield.

Sgt. George Bistline, a city police officer on duty at Central Court, responded to the scuffle in the cellblock.

He was told by Aikens to “back off,” and he momentarily retreated.

Bistline then returned with his service weapon drawn and fired a shot at Aikens. His shot tragically hit and killed Russell.

Aikens was charged with second-degree murder and has since been sentenced to life in prison.

Meanwhile, Russell’s estate filed a federal lawsuit naming as defendants Blair County, the City of Altoona, Blair County Prison officials, the Blair County Sheriff and a deputy and the estate of Officer Bistline, who died not long after the Central Court incident.

The Russell estate contended prison officials knew that Aikens was desperate to escape and had attempted to remove bricks from the wall of his cell in the days before he was to appear in Central Court.

The lawsuit also was critical of the fact that Russell was alone in the Central Court cellblock on Nov. 17, guarding several inmates.

Initially, U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson dismissed the lawsuit, but allowed an amended complaint to be filed.

The most recent complaint was filed on May 8, 2025, and it charged that prison officials failed to warn Russell — and another corrections officer who transported Aikens to Central Court for his hearing — that the inmate was desperate to escape and posed a danger.

The lawsuit also contended Bistline’s reaction to the hostage incident deprived Russell of “due process.”

Gibson, who died last year, eventually dismissed the lawsuit and determined that Bistline was protected from civil liability by qualified immunity.

Upon Gibson’s death, the case passed to Haines.

She sought review of the lawsuit by Magistrate Judge Maureen Kelly, who presides in Pittsburgh.

Kelly, in her Report and Recommendation released in January, explained that Judge Gibson, in his handling of the case, determined Bistline, in attempting to confront Aikens with deadly force, “plausibly disregarded” a great risk of harm to Officer Russell and that there could be liability for the Estate under the Due Process clause of the Constitution.

Kelly pointed to a recent decision by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that concluded more analysis of cases must occur before granting qualified immunity to officers.

The Third Circuit decision, Stringer v. Bucks County, found that a more detailed review of an incident had to be undertaken before immunity could be granted to a group of county prison officers who seriously injured a mentally ill female in trying to restrain her.

Applying that ruling to the present case, Kelly recommended that a 90-day review be undertaken of the Russell shooting prior to considering if immunity applied.

For instance, the attorney for the Russell estate, in his amended complaint, inferred that Aikens had dropped the gun he was holding before Bistline re-entered the Central Court cellblock and fired his shot.

In her opinion, Kelly thus posed questions required by the Stringer case: “What does dropping the gun mean? Did he slide it across the floor (in surrender)? Could he still access the gun? Did he and Russell still remain in imminent danger? Is there anything to indicate Bistline knew Aikens had allegedly dropped his weapon?”

Details like this need to be investigated, according to Kelly.

Kelly concluded that the Blair County defendants (prison and Sheriff’s deputy) should be dismissed from the case.

She recommended that the civil complaint against Altoona and the Bistline estate not be dismissed, pending a review of the issues concerning the propriety of Gibson’s grant of immunity to Bistline.

Kelly suggested the parties be granted 90 days to conduct that review.

The magistrate judge gave the parties several weeks to respond to her recommendations before forwarding her recommendation to Haines.

On Tuesday, Haines issued her decision to accept Kelly’s recommendations: “The Court (Haines) has exercised its review and concurs with Magistrate Kelly’s conclusions. Therefore, the Court hereby adopts Magistrate Kelly’s Report and Recommendation.”

She then returned the case to Kelly for further review of the immunity issue.