Kendrick Johnson: Court denies lawsuit's dismissal in teen's gym mat death

ATLANTA - A federal appeals court is asking a Georgia court to reconsider a ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by the parents of a Valdosta teen found dead at his school over a decade ago.

In 2013, Kendrick Johnson's body was found in an upright wrestling mat in the gym of Lowndes County High School by his classmates.

The legal issues surrounding Johnson's death and the subsequent investigation have been going on for years. While a district court judge ruled that the family's lawsuit should be dismissed, the latest ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit said that the verdict should be reviewed.

Kendrick Johnson death lawsuit

The backstory:

On Jan. 11, 2013, students found the body of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson in the gymnasium at the Valdosta high school and alerted a gym teacher. 

Lowndes County sheriff’s investigators concluded soon after that Johnson died in a freak accident, stuck upside down and unable to breathe while trying to retrieve a shoe that fell inside the upright mat.

Johnson's parents have long insisted that someone killed him and that school officials and law enforcement covered up the crime. The family has cited bruising to their son's right jaw and marks that they have claimed are consistent with stun-gun prongs near the teen's wrist.

Investigators at the scene when Johnson's body was discovered and a submission from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Crime Laboratory found no evidence of blunt force trauma or foul play. The crime lab submission found "signs of skin slippage on Johnson's

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Federal authorities ultimately provided no answers in 2016 when they closed their investigation into whether Johnson’s civil rights were violated. The Justice Department released a statement saying investigators "found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges."

In 2021, Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk opened the investigation again due to public scrutiny of the case. In his synopsis of the case file, Paulk said that investigators have continued to believe the teen's death was accidental and there was no foul play.

"I am quite sure that there will still be a contingent that will believe there was foul play," Paulk wrote. "I encourage everyone to study ALL the evidence in this file before forming an opinion."

Following that investigation, Kendrick's parents filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, the Crime Lab, the GBI, the Lowndes County Board of Education (which they call the "School Board" in their lawsuit), and an unnamed agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

"We are going to continue to keep fighting for Kendrick because his life mattered," Jackie Johnson said after filing the suit.

Dig deeper:

While the defendants attempted to dismiss the lawsuit, officials say the Johnsons tried to file an additional amended complaint that was struck down by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May.

The Johnsons then asked May to recuse herself, accusing her of bias or prejudice related to the case. May denied the motion and dismissed the lawsuit.

In her dismissal, May wrote that the "Sheriff’s Office, the Crime Lab, and the School Board were not legal entities capable of being sued," the appeals court wrote in its ruling. The other two defendants, the GBI and the FBI agent, were protected by the 11th Amendment or a lack of identifying information respectively. 

"As for the proposed new claims against new defendants, the court found that some defendants were entitled to immunity, while the claims against the remaining new defendants were supported only by conclusory allegations of conspiracy," the appeals court's ruling said in part.

The Johnsons then appealed the ruling to the higher court.

What they're saying:

In its ruling last week, the three-judge federal appeals panel ruled that May was right not to recuse herself from the case.

"The Johnsons have not shown that the district judge abused her discretion by refusing to recuse herself," the opinion reads. "Neither the Johnsons’ affidavit nor their briefing identifies any extrajudicial source of bias sufficient to warrant recusal. Rather, the Johnsons complain about the judge’s docket administration, timeliness, and adverse rulings. But those matters do not establish the type of bias or prejudice that would require the judge’s recusal."

However, the panel decided that, while Georgia law does not allow specific agencies like the sheriff's office or the school board to be sued, it say that entities like sheriffs or school districts could be sued, meaning that the Johnsons could identify defendants that their lawsuit could apply to.

Given that the incorrect naming could be fixed, the decision to throw out the case on that technicality should be reevaluated, the judges argued.

What's next:

The judges ruled that the case should be sent back to the U.S. Northern District of Georgia for reconsideration.

At an undetermined later date, the Johnsons' attorneys and the defendants will be able to argue their case again, giving the lawsuit another chance to go forward.