Tarrant County will fund another $20,000 to help represent a jailer named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in county jail custody last year — despite calls from the public to settle with the family.
County commissioners approved the additional funding in a 4-1 vote during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, an increase from the initial $30,000 used to hire law firm Brown & Hofmeister, L.L.P. to represent jailer Phylicia Hollie in November.
County records show the firm has billed the county $31,892.89 to date, exceeding the original funding approved. With the additional $20,000 to pay to the law firm, the county requested the law firm should “not to exceed a total cost of $50,000” in Hollie's defense.
Commissioners discussed the proposed item during a closed session — but people expressed their concern and disapproval for the increased funding during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Julie Griffin, a member of the Justice Network of Tarrant County, told commissioners it’s unreasonable to continue paying for a single case in which detention officers are allegedly responsible for an inmate’s death.
“The reasonable and honorable thing to do is settle with the family our county jail deprived of a son, brother and uncle,” Griffin said, “and to end the mounting costs of this case.”
Johnson, who like most of the jail population was awaiting trial and had not been convicted of a crime, died after an altercation with detention officers in April 2024. Security camera and iPhone video footage from the incident show a man identified as detention officer Rafael Moreno kneeling on Johnson's back for more than a minute. Johnson was also pepper sprayed and the words "I can't breathe" can be heard at least once during the video.
Johnson’s death was later ruled a homicide by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office, which listed his cause of death as mechanical and chemical asphyxia.
It’s led to an ongoing legal battle between Tarrant County and Johnson’s family accusing the county and a group of jailers of "inhumane treatment, lack of compassion, egregious and unconscionable actions, inexcusable neglect and cowardice acts."
The suit initially named Moreno and his supervisor Lt. Joel Garcia — who have since been indicted on murder charges — and now includes 15 detention officers, alleging each failed to intervene as Moreno restrained Johnson. The officer who pepper sprayed Johnson, who has since resigned, was also accused of discharging it directly into his mouth.
Deaths and allegations of mistreatment in the Tarrant County Jail have cost the county millions of dollars in settlements since 2022, and nearly 70 people have died in county custody since Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017.
Waybourn's faced mounting criticism for the jail's death toll, along with growing calls for his resignation. The sheriff has resisted those demands, and promised more transparency. In October, outside experts hired by the federal government evaluated the jail’s physical and mental health care systems.
However, Waybourn faced additional scrutiny in October when the the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found his office broke the law by not requiring a third-party investigation into every jail death — a finding Waybourn disputes.
Despite that criticism, Waybourn won reelection as county sheriff in November against an opponent who ran a campaign focusing on the incumbent sheriff's record overseeing the jail.
During Tuesday’s public comment period, Karla Palomares told commissioners she’s worried increased funds for ongoing litigaton will lead to a “domino effect” of reckless and unaccountable spending in the sheriff's office.
“It's a complete disservice to the people of Tarrant County who've been trusting [commissioners] to be good, fiscally responsible stewards to our county dollars,” Palomares said. “If this court's going to live up to the standards and expectations it claims to pursue, then this court should call for the resignation of our sheriff, as well as our D.A.”
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