They hypothesized that Johnson had fallen into the mat while
looking for a shoe and died after being unable to get out. Three students told
investigators that it was common for some students to store their shoes behind
or under the rolled up mats. Johnson was not wearing shoes when he was found. A
student at the school said that he shared a pair of Adidas shoes with Johnson,
and that after gym class Johnson would always "go to the mats, jump up and
toss the shoes inside the middle of the hole."
Lt. Stryde Jones, who headed up the investigation for the
Lowndes County Sheriff's Office stated: "We never had credible information
that indicated this was anything other than an accident." Johnson's family
questioned this hypothesis. Unsatisfied with the result of the investigation,
Johnson's family hired an independent autopsy conducted by Dr. William R.
Anderson with Forensic Dimensions in Heathrow, Florida on June 15th. Dr
Anderson's claimed that his findings indicate traces of blunt force trauma to
the right neck and soft tissues, and suggested the death was not accidental.
Subsequent events and legal actions...
After the opinion of the private pathologist was released,
Johnson's family stated that they believed Johnson had been murdered. The
family retained the services of attorney Benjamin Crump. On October 31, 2013,
the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia announced that the office
would open a formal review into the death of Johnson. Benjamin Crump's
application to the Georgia court to practice in Georgia representing Kendrick's
parents was not ruled on, and he withdrew from representing the Johnson family
and is no longer participating in the case.
Johnson's family filed a legal action to open a coroner's
inquiry into his death. When the judge in that case delayed a decision, pending
the outcome of the U.S. District Attorney review, the family demanded that the
governor of Georgia immediately authorize the inquiry instead. The Johnson
family, together with the NAACP and other civil rights activists, then held a
rally at the state capitol in Atlanta. The governor's office released a
statement indicating that they would await the report of the U.S. Attorney.
Johnson's body in the gym mat after it was moved onto its
side. The gym mat was discovered standing upright.
Body...
The independent autopsy found, among other things, that
Johnson's body was stuffed with newspapers. The funeral home that processed the
body following the GBI's autopsy stated that they never received Johnson's
organs from the coroner. Johnson's internal organs were said to have been
"destroyed through natural process" and "discarded by the prosecutor
before the body was sent back to Valdosta," according to the funeral home
owner. That left a void, which the funeral home filled. The funeral home owner
stated that it is standard practice to fill a void in this fashion, and that
cotton or sawdust may also be employed for this purpose. Johnson's family filed
a complaint, with a regulatory body, against the funeral home operator.
A subsequent investigation by the Georgia Secretary of
State's office found that the funeral home did not follow "best
practice" and that other material was "more acceptable than newspaper".
Nonetheless, the investigation cleared the funeral home of any wrongdoing. A
spokesperson for the Secretary of State said that the investigation found that
the funeral home "didn't violate any rules". The Johnson family
subsequently filed a civil suit against the funeral home, seeking money
damages.
Johnson's family requested that his body be exhumed for a
second time and was granted permission by Valdosta city officials. On June 22,
2018, Kendrick Johnson's body was exhumed.
Surveillance tape...
Surveillance footage of Johnson entering the gymnasium
shortly before he died
In November 2013, 290 hours of surveillance tape from 35
cameras that covered the gym area was released to CNN following a court
request. A forensic analyst enlisted by CNN found that tapes from two cameras
are missing an hour and five minutes of footage, while another set was missing
two hours and ten minutes of footage.8 However, some apparent lapses in
coverage were found to result from camera systems that were not synchronized
with one another. Time stamps between some separate camera systems differed by
as much as 20 minutes for the same time period, giving the impression of a
"gap" where no gap existed. Other "missing" footage was the
result of inactivity within the camera's view. Camera systems were motion
activated, using a change in light pixels to turn recordings on and off. The
area where Johnson's body was discovered, where the gym mats were stored, was
outside the range of all of the surveillance cameras.
Attorneys for the Johnson family expressed fears that the
camera footage was ed as part of a "cover-up". However, a detailed
analysis of the camera systems by the Valdosta Daily Times explained the
anomalies, casting significant doubt on the idea of a cover-up. Both the
president of the Valdosta-Lowndes County chapter of the SCLC and the former
lead investigator for that chapter have stated that they believe the attorneys
for the Johnsons have "not been entirely truthful in their
statements" and that there is no cover-up in this case.
Legal actions...
The family of Kendrick Johnson filed a wrongful death
lawsuit against Lowndes County Board of Education, its superintendent and the
high school principal. The suit alleged that Johnson "was violently
assaulted, severely injured, suffered great physical pain and mental anguish,
and subjected to insult and loss of life" on January 10, 2013. While the
lawsuit did not name the person or persons allegedly involved in the January 10
event, nor identify the race of alleged perpetrators, it implied a race-based
dimension to the hypothetical assault. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants
were negligent and violated Johnson's constitutional right to equal protection
based on race. It alleged that the defendants ignored reports that, previously,
Johnson had been repeatedly attacked and harassed by a white student. It
alleged that Johnson was attacked on a bus trip, 14 months prior to his death.
The lawsuit further alleged that another student "had a history of
provoking and attacking" Johnson at school, stating that the provocations
took place "in the presence of the coaching staff and employees" of
the school, after his mother complained about previous attacks. The suit also
alleged that school officials failed to "properly monitor the activities
of students throughout all areas" of the campus and to "maintain a
properly functioning video surveillance system."
In August 2014, the parents of Brian and Brandon Bell filed
a $5 million lawsuit against Ebony Magazine after the magazine published a
series of articles naming two students as possible suspects in the death. The
magazine used pseudonyms but was otherwise accurate in descriptions of the
boys, including the fact that their father was an FBI agent. The article used
as a source an anonymous email to the sheriff's office alleging that the
younger of the two brothers killed Johnson after learning that Johnson had sex
with the brother's girlfriend. Rick and Karen Bell assert that their sons were
not involved in the death, are not considered suspects, and have been harassed
as a result of the publication.
In January 2015, Kendrick Johnson's family filed a $100
million civil lawsuit in the Superior Court of DeKalb County against 38
individuals. Respondents include three of Johnson's classmates (two or three
respondents are unnamed) and local, state, and federal officials: the school
superintendent of Lowndes County, the Valdosta-Lowndes crime lab, the police
chief of Valdosta, many sheriff's deputies, the city of Valdosta, the state
medical examiner, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and its five agents, and
an FBI agent. The lawsuit alleged that the FBI agent ordered his two sons and a
classmate to attack Johnson. Kendrick Johnson's family alleged that his death
was a murder and accused the respondents of a conspiracy to cover up the
homicide. Jim Elliott, the Lowndes County Attorney, stated that the allegations
are "unfounded" and "baseless" and that any response would
be made in court. All local Superior Court judges recused themselves from
presiding over the case preventing the lawsuit from being filed and heard in
Lowndes County. The judges' reason was because of their close proximity to the
accused. For that reason, Chief Judge Harry J. Altman stated that it was
inappropriate for these judges to preside over the case. Shortly before the
lawsuit was filed, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia,
Michael J. Moore, said in a statement that a federal investigation was still
open and that "the investigation has proven more complicated and taken
longer than originally anticipated." U.S. attorney for the Middle District
of Georgia, Michael J. Moore has since resigned. After Michael Moore resigned,
the case was transferred to the Northern District of Ohio under the leadership
of Steven Dettlebach. Shortly after receiving the Kendrick Johnson case, U.S.
attorney Steven Dettlebach resigned. Despite these resignations, the Department
of Justice investigation continued, according to Department of Justice
spokesman Michael Tobin.
In November 2015, the DOJ filed a motion in the civil case
to intervene and stay the case. The U.S. Attorney said allowing evidence
discovery in the civil suit to continue would have a “chilling effect” on the
federal investigation, which had expanded into investigating possible
obstruction and grand jury witness tampering. After the DOJ's motion was
denied, Jackie and Kenneth Johnson dismissed their own wrongful death lawsuit,
saying that they hoped to refile it after the conclusion of the DOJ's
investigation. Jackie and Kenneth Johnson were subsequently sued for more than
$850,000 in attorney fees and $1,000,000 in defamation damages.
On June 20, 2016, the US DOJ announced that they would not
be filing any criminal charges related to Johnson's death, stating "After
extensive investigation into this tragic event, federal investigators
determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that someone or some group of people willfully violated Kendrick
Johnson's civil rights or committed any other prosecutable federal crime."
On August 10, 2017, a judge ruled that Johnson's family and
their attorney must pay more than $292,000 in legal fees to the dozens of
people they accused of foul play in a lawsuit that they previously dropped.
