The widow of Robert Miller is appealing a federal judge’s decision to dismiss her lawsuit over her husband’s 2019 death in Tarrant County Jail custody.
The county blamed Miller’s death on a sickle cell crisis, but a Fort Worth Star-Telegram investigation questioned that conclusion. The paper found Miller didn’t have sickle cell disease and argued he may have died because detention officers pepper sprayed him repeatedly at close range.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office changed Miller’s manner of death from natural to “undetermined” last year but stood behind its finding he died of a sickle cell crisis. That has been refuted by outside medical experts.
In 2023, Miller’s wife, Shanelle Jenkins, sued multiple detention officers and jail nurses allegedly involved in Miller’s death.
U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman dismissed the lawsuit in July, ruling it was filed too late. Miller died in 2019, and Jenkins filed her lawsuit in 2023 — “well past the two-year statute of limitations,” Pittman wrote.
Jenkins’ attorneys filed their notice appealing that dismissal August 8.
They’ve previously argued the county and state delayed the release of public records that explained what happened to Miller. Jenkins didn’t know Miller was pepper sprayed until 2021, and the state’s full investigation of the incident wasn’t released until 2022, according to court filings.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.
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