Anthony Johnson Jr.

Anthony Johnson Jr. died in Tarrant County Jail custody in 2024 after officers pepper sprayed him in the face. Rafael Moreno, one of the officers on trial, knelt on his back for 90 seconds.

Briefings about deaths in Tarrant County’s jail won’t be allowed during the commissioners’ public meetings.

Tarrant County was dismissed last year from a lawsuit over the death of an inmate, Anthony Johnson, Jr., who died at the Tarrant County Jail in 2024. His family filed an appeal in December to add the county back to the suit.

Tarrant County commissioners Tuesday approved more than $135,000 in funding for legal counsel in two different lawsuits.

In an email read aloud to county commissioners Wednesday, Sheriff Bill Waybourn said he would not give any more briefings called by Democratic Commissioner Alisa Simmons.

Johnson died after Tarrant County jailers pepper sprayed him, and one knelt on his back for more than a minute. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Johnson's death a homicide by asphyxiation.

It's not the first time the family of Anthony Johnson Jr. has been removed from the court while making calls for accountability and justice for his death.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed claims against Tarrant County and six of the named jailers earlier this month, but the family want the county back on the suit.

A federal judge dismissed the claims against Tarrant County and six of the named jailers, but nine defendants remain.

All 15 Tarrant County detention officers have been named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in Tarrant County Jail custody.

The mother of Chasity Bonner, who died in jail earlier this year, brought her daughter’s ashes to Commissioners Court on Tuesday.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons is in Washington D.C., where she will speak with the U.S. Department of Justice about the Tarrant County Jail. There have been more than 65 deaths in the jail since Sheriff Bill Waybourn came into office.