Tarrant County Commissioners OK another $370K for attorneys in jail death lawsuit
The costs for the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. in the county jail in April grew by more than a third of a million dollars on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
Tarrant County Commissioners approved the hiring of at least 10 outside law firms to represent the county and nine jailers in the lawsuit brought by Johnson’s family in July. The hirings passed 4 to 1, with Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a Democrat from Arlington, casting the sole vote against.
The first of a batch of nine agenda items approved by one round of voting was to authorize the chief of the Civil Division of the District Attorney’s Office to hire outside counsel to represent the county in the case. That hiring was approved for up to $100,000.
The other items in the batch were for outside attorneys to represent nine jailers involved in the altercation that resulted in Johnson’s death. Each of those hirings was approved for up to $30,000, bringing the total to as much as $370,000.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Johnson’s death a homicide and two jailers have been indicted on murder charges.
The county commissioners in August approved hiring outside counsel for those jailers, Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia, each for up to $30,000 as well. In September, they approved hiring three more for other jailers named as defendants in the suit, also for up to $30,000 each.
The bill for outside counsel in the case now totals more than $500,000.
The hirings make it “clear” that the commissioners “believe it’s in their best interest to defend the murder of Anthony Johnson rather than righting a wrong,” said Daryl Washington, the Johnson family’s attorney.
“Sheriff Waybourn has repeatedly stated that what happened to Anthony was wrong,” he continued. “We know there were no policies in place to prevent the death of Anthony Johnson, Chastity Bonner and over 60 other inmates.”
The bystander jailers were not trained to act in a way that may have prevented Johnson’s death, Washington said.
“The jailers did nothing because they were not trained to react during a medical event,” he said. “Clearly, the county and the Jailers are responsible for Anthony’s death but it has been shown that there is no concern for the families whose loved ones died as a result of a corrupt system.”
Tarrant County residents who spoke during the public comments section asked the court to consider in-house mediation before hiring more attorneys.
“At a time when the county has expressed a desire to save taxpayers money … you are asking for $370,000 to hire outside counsel to represent you and your employees in the civil suit brought by the Johnson family against the county jail,” said Fort Worth Resident Reed Bilz.
Said Harriet Harral, also of Fort Worth: “This has gotten way out of hand, and now we face a lawsuit brought by Anthony Johnson’s family, because Anthony Johnson’s death was ruled a homicide.”
Julie Griffin of Fort Worth called the rising costs of hiring outside attorneys “enormous” and said it is time “to show good faith to the family and to the community” by seeking mediation.
Simmons echoed calls for mediation, proposing the county use lawyers in the DA’s Civil Division, rather than hiring outside attorneys.
“If we hire an outside firm, the first thing they are going to do is mediate,” she said before the vote. “So why can’t we mediate in-house with our District Attorney’s Office? Are we saying the competency level’s not there? It doesn’t make sense.”
The commissioners discussed the agenda items in a short closed session before coming back out for a vote. Before the closed session, County Judge Tim O’Hare said that the in-house option was only possible for representation of the county.
“Items two through nine are required,” he said. “You cannot use in-house lawyers, due to conflict of interest issues.”
Simmons responded by saying that was the item she was speaking to.
A spokesperson for the DA’s office confirmed that in-house civil lawyers cannot be used to represent individual defendants in cases brought against the county due to conflicts of interest.
