Kendrick Johnson case: Will feds investigate? PLEASE Read (CNN) -- Nearly 10 months after authorities found southeast Georgia teenager Kendrick Johnson dead in a rolled up gym mat, a federal prosecutor has called a news conference to make an announcement in the case. Its not known what Michael Moore, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia will announce. But Moore has previously said he was reviewing the case and weighing whether to open an investigation. Johnsons family suspects the 17-year-old was murdered and that someone has tried to cover up evidence in the case. Their lawyer has also raised civil rights concerns, questioning whether officials in the predominantly white county took the investigation of an African-American teenager seriously enough. Authorities say they did. The announcement comes a day after a judge granted the family and CNN access to surveillance images and investigative files related to the case, which the Lowndes County sheriffs office had declared accidental. CNN has been reporting on the case for months, uncovering new details of the teens death and raising questions about the sheriffs office handling of the case. Among other things, CNN obtained death-scene imagery that led outside exerts to question the official explanation that Kendrick had suffocated reaching for a sneaker. On Monday, after a judge ordered county officials to release surveillance images and investigative files, Kendricks father, Kenneth Johnson, said the family was pleased to finally be seeing progress in the case. We are happy to hear we are one step closer to the truth, he said. A mysterious death Authorities found Kendricks body on January 11, wedged into a rolled-up wrestling mat in the high school gym. Imagery obtained by CNN -- a 15-minute video and nearly 700 photos taken by sheriffs investigators -- show his body clad in jeans and layered orange and white T-shirts. His face was bloated with pooled blood, some of which had poured out of his body, soaking his dreadlocks and spilling onto the floor. Within 24 hours of finding the body, Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine announced that investigators had no reason to suspect foul play in the death. But a former FBI agent contacted by CNN to review the materials questioned those conclusions. Harold Copus, now a private investigator, questioned how authorities handled evidence in the case, including blood smears found on a nearby wall they said were unrelated to the case. Copus also questioned the handling of a pair of gym shoes that had a substance that appeared to be blood on them. Investigators told CNN the shoes werent collected as evidence because the substance was not blood. Despite the findings of state medical examiners who found no evidence of foul play, a private pathologist hired by the family to conduct a second autopsy after exhuming the teens body found that Johnson had a blow to the right side of his neck consistent with inflicted injury. The pathologist also discovered that the teens organs had not been returned to his body after the initial autopsy. It had instead been stuffed with newspapers. The absence of the organs fueled the familys suspicions of a coverup in their sons death. They know something happened in that gym, and they dont want it to come out, Kenneth Johnson said at the time. Brick walls For months, the familys quest for answers went nowhere. It took until May for autopsy results to be issued, and then the sheriffs office said the investigation had been closed. The sheriffs office and school officials resisted the familys request to obtain school surveillance images and other records, citing state law that exempts the release of education records of a minor child. After months of pursuing official answers and getting nowhere, they began staging daily rallies. A Facebook tribute page and a CNN iReport submitted by Kendricks aunt spread the message far beyond the southeast Georgia town. On Monday, a Lowndes County judge ruled that authorities had to turn over the surveillance records and files sought by the family -- the first step, family attorney Chevene King said -- in finding what they say is the truth about what had happened. Video included in the release and reviewed by CNN shows him walking in a hallway and entering the gym. It also shows him inside the gym prior to his death, along with other students playing basketball. There is no indication that any of the people shown in the video have any knowledge of the events surrounding Kendricks death. A civil rights case? King has alleged that if Kendrick had been white, the investigation would have gone differently. Prine, the sheriff, is white, as are about 60% of the countys residents. But sheriffs office officials have rejected that claim. Race never played into it, Stryde Jones of the Lowndes County Sheriffs Office said in May. The victim played into it. Thats who were working for is the victim and the victims family. King said none of the materials released Monday are expected to show exactly what happened to Kendrick. But they could cast doubt on the official explanation and nudge officials toward reclassifying Kendricks death to allow a new investigation into what happened, King said. Essentially, it shifts the focus from what the sheriff had offered to other theories that were not explored and that have I think begun to slowly creep to the surface, King said after the hearing. On Thursday, Lowndes County Coronor Bill Watson said he has not made a decision yet on whether to open a coroners inquest into the death. That would be the first step in reclassifying the death to something other than accidental to allow a fresh investigation into the circumstances. Watson said he would make that decision in the next day or so. And Im emphasizing the or so, he said. Regardless of what happens, Kenneth Johnson said Thursday the family has no choice but to keep pressing on. Were fighting for Kendrick to the end, he said.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:36:32 +0000
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