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Died in jail or a lockup

Javonte Myers

28 years old · died June 19, 2020 · Tarrant County Jail, Tarrant County, Texas

Javonte Myers had lived with a seizure disorder since his late teens and managed it with medication as best he could, and his mother, Sondrea Miller, said he had been hospitalized at least a dozen times. He died on June 19, 2020, in his cell at the Tarrant County Jail, three days after jail officials took him to JPS Hospital for another seizure. The medical examiner determined that he died of a seizure disorder. His family's attorney, Dean Malone, says he lay on a cell floor for hours without treatment before jailers found him, and a Texas Rangers investigation found that two jailers had lied about checking on him; the county later settled a $1 million lawsuit with his family. His stepfather, Paul Miller, asked after his death, "Why couldn't they have left him in the hospital? Or let him go?"

Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The medical examiner ruled he died of a seizure disorder, but his family's attorney Dean Malone says he died without medical treatment on a cell floor for hours, and a Texas Rangers investigation found jailers falsified checks on him.

Reported by: Tarrant County Medical Examiner Tasha Greenberg (medical examiner or coroner); Texas Rangers investigation (outside investigators); Dean Malone, attorney for the Myers family (family or their lawyers); Texas Office of the Attorney General custodial death report.

Lawsuit: His family sued Tarrant County and settled for $1 million, according to one account of his death at the Tarrant County Jail in June 2020.

News reports (8)

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