2 Tarrant County jailers indicted on murder charges in inmate’s death (2024)

Two Tarrant County jailers accused in the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. were indicted Friday on murder charges, according to officials.

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Rafael Moreno, a jailer seen on video kneeling on the 31-year-old’s back, and Lt. Joel Garcia, his supervisor. Jane Bishkin, the attorney for Moreno, declined to comment. The attorney for Garcia did not immediately respond to a request for comment by phone call.

“The wheels of justice continue to turn in this case,” Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a statement. “I said from the beginning that we [would] hold accountable anyone responsible for Mr. Johnson’s death and we are doing that.”

Johnson, a Marine Corps veteran who was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia, died April 21. He had been in jail for two days after he was arrested in Saginaw and accused of wielding a knife at a motorist while standing in a roadway.

The Tarrant County sheriff’s office said at the time Johnson died from a “medical emergency” after refusing to leave his cell for a contraband check. Officials said pepper spray had to be used to restrain Johnson, and he later became unresponsive and died.

Partial video released by the sheriff’s office showed multiple jailers kneeling on Johnson’s back as he yelled “I can’t breathe” during the altercation.

County medical examiner officials ruled he died by homicide and his autopsy declared a mix of chemicals and physical force prevented his body from intaking sufficient oxygen.

Daryl Washington, an attorney representing Johnson’s family, said in a press release Friday that the indictment was a step in the right direction but “is only one piece of the puzzle.”

He said many more people need to be held accountable — including other jailers who watched Johnson become unresponsive and medical staff members who could have saved him.

“There is still so much more that needs to be done, and we will not stop fighting until we reach the finish line,” Washington said.

The Tarrant County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the indictment Friday.

Following Johnson’s death, Waybourn fired Moreno and Garcia in May. Both were later reinstated and then suspended.

Waybourn previously said that Moreno was fired because he shouldn’t have used his knee once Johnson was handcuffed. Garcia, who recorded the encounter, was fired because he did not respond properly to the “urgency of the situation,” Waybourn has said.

Garcia’s attorney, Randall Moore, has said his client is not at fault and was only on scene for about four minutes. He said Garcia called for medical support about two to three minutes after Johnson first yelled he couldn’t breathe.

He has said Garcia would not receive a fair trial because of “inflammatory comments” in the media.

Johnson is one of at least 64 people who have died in the Tarrant County jail since 2017, which has spurred widespread scrutiny. More than three-fourths of those deaths were related to medical conditions or COVID-19, one was marked unknown, two were deemed homicides and the causes of another four were still pending, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.