VALDOSTA – The parents of Kendrick Johnson are calling on supporters to gather at the Lowndes County Judicial Complex Friday morning to witness what they described as “a miscarriage of Justice.”
Kenneth and Jackie Johnson are expected to appear in court for a hearing to determine if they will be required to pay legal fees to defendants named in a $100 million civil suit the family voluntarily dropped in March.
The parents filed the civil suit in January 2015 which alleged local FBI agent Rick Bell, his two sons and 35 state and local officials either directly caused or covered up the cause of their son’s death.
The body of Kendrick Johnson was found upside down in a vertically-stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013. A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-old’s death accidental. The Johnson family insists their son died of foul play.
The Johnsons dismissed the action with the intention of refiling at a later date. Since the dismissal, former defendants named in the suit have filed to recover nearly $900,000 in attorney’s fees from the family.
On Wednesday, The Kendrick Johnson Foundation issued a media alert characterizing the hearing as an attempt “to forever silence (Kendrick Johnson’s) parents.”
From the release:
WHO: The Parents of Kendrick Johnson and their Attorney C.B. King, Esq are scheduled to appear in Court regarding a motion to attempt to force The Johnsons to reimburse attorney’s fees
WHAT: To Publically [sic] call for People of these great United States to stand in Solidarity with The Family of Kendrick Johnson. To witness a miscarriage of Justice being executed on his family and his attorney for trying to speak out on What Really Happened to Kendrick Johnson.
On April 22, King filed a motion seeking to postpone Friday’s hearing because he had “misplaced the affidavits of witness Aaliyah Griffin and Dr. William Anderson, the pathologist who performed the second autopsy.” King said he found the documents on April 21, according to court documents.
King also asserted that the defendants’ reimbursement claims were “an astronomical sum” that, if granted, would be a financial burden that would prevent his clients from refiling their civil suit in the future.
Jim Elliott, legal counsel for the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, has filed documents seeking $152,741.83 in attorney’s fees that were used to defend his clients, including Sheriff Chris Prine, from accusations he described as “substantially frivolous.”
“There existed such a complete absence of any justiciable issue of law or fact with respect to (the Johnson’s) claims against Prine and the LCSO Defendants that (the Johnsons) and their attorney could not have reasonably believed that a court would accept the same,” Elliott noted in the filing.
FBI Agent Rick Bell and his two sons have filed to recoup $241,358.50 in attorney’s fees. Bell was accused of directing his sons to murder Johnson. In documents filed with the court, the Bell’s lawyer highlighted Kenneth Johnson’s admission in sworn testimony that “they had no evidence to support their claims against the Bells.”
The Johnsons’ suit also accused Owens Transport of mishandling Kendrick Johnson’s remains. Owens has filed to recoup $47,274 in attorney’s fees.
Lawyers representing former defendants from the Lowndes County School Board have filed to recoup $432,609.65 in attorney’s fees.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 Friday morning at the Lowndes County Judicial Complex.
