Tarrant County will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit over the jail death of Javonte Myers, while local prosecutors continue criminal cases against two jailers accused of neglecting him.
Myers’ mother, Sondrea Miller, sued the county in April 2022, arguing the Tarrant County jail ignored her son’s serious medical and mental health needs, and that he could have survived had jail staff taken proper care of him.
Myers, 28, died of a seizure disorder in his cell in 2020, county medical examiner records show. The lawsuit alleges that Myers’ body lay on the floor of his cell for hours before jailers noticed he was dead.
Miller agreed to accept the $1 million settlement, according to county documents, and Tarrant County commissioners approved the settlement during their regular meeting on Tuesday.
Democratic County Commissioner Alisa Simmons voted for the settlement, but cautioned that big payouts cannot be the solution to problems in the jail.
"Javonte's death and his mother's grief is the ultimate tragedy here," she said. "No amount of money is going to make that better."
Simmons warned this won't be the last settlement over a jail death that taxpayers have to fund since the county is facing several lawsuits.
Miller's lawsuit, filed in federal court, also names two jailers as defendants: Darien Kirk and Erik Gay. Both also face criminal charges for their alleged role in Myers’ death.
Kirk and Gay lied about performing required check-ins on Myers, according to law enforcement. Both were indicted by a grand jury and face one charge each of tampering with a government record with the intent to harm or defraud another.
Kirk's next court date is scheduled for Sept. 25, and Gay's is scheduled for Oct. 2, court records show.
In a legal quirk, the county is not only paying to settle the case and to prosecute Kirk and Gay. It’s also paying for Kirk and Gay’s legal defense in the lawsuit. County employees who get sued for something they did on the job are entitled to legal representation from the county, under the Texas Local Government Code.
The $1 million dollar settlement could have been avoided, former state Rep. Lon Burnam said during public comment.
"There are way too many examples of mistreatment of inmates in our mail, and it leads to this sort of expense," Burnam said.
Multiple lawsuits are still underway against Tarrant County and the sheriff’s office, the agency that oversees the jail, over deaths behind bars, as well as allegations of mistreatment and neglect.
- Georgia Kay Baldwin, a woman with severe mental illness, died of suspected dehydration in 2021, even though her cell had a water fountain. Baldwin's sons sued the county in June over her “tragic, completely unnecessary death."
- Robert Miller died in jail custody in 2019. The county insists he died due to a sickle cell crisis, but experts who spoke to KERA and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram dispute that explanation, because Miller did not have sickle cell disease. Miller’s wife, Shanelle Jenkins, filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office.
- Cory Rodrigues is suing the county after a jailer beat him so badly, he had to be hospitalized, according to the lawsuit. This summer, county prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against the jailers involved in the beating without explanation. The beating was caught on tape.
- In 2020, a woman with severe developmental disabilities and mental health issues gave birth alone and unattended in her Tarrant County jail cell. The baby later died. The woman’s guardian sued the county last year.
Some Tarrant County residents have asked for greater oversight of the jail.
Earlier this year, a coalition of activists worked with Texas A&M School of Law to send a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking for an investigation into jail conditions. In August, a group of locals traveled to Austin to ask the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to perform surprise investigations of Tarrant County jail facilities.
This story was updated Tuesday, Sept. 19 to include information from the Tarrant County Commissioners meeting.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.
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