The family of a deceased Fulton County Jail detainee who was stabbed to death announced its intention to sue the jail on Wednesday but will first offer the facility a 30-day window to “address the situation appropriately” before the lawsuit is filed. During a Thursday press conference, the family’s lawyers provided details surrounding the stabbing death.
Dino Walker was allegedly stabbed to death by two other Fulton County Jail inmates on September 22, 2022. Lawyers allege the stabbing occurred after a detention officer left his post for nearly an hour, according to Atlanta First News, citing a press release sent by the Davis Bozeman Johnson Law Firm, which represents the family.
Attorneys also said video of the incident shows inmates barely reacted to the stabbing, which the legal team claimed “further confirms the normalization of violence in the Fulton County Jail.”
In a press conference on Thursday morning, lawyers Mawuli Davis and Harold Spence acknowledged Walker was accused of aggravated assault and denied bond, 11 Alive reported, but Spence argued in the press release that “a pretrial detainee” should not be consigned “to death or severe injury by knifing.”
One member of the legal team blamed Fulton County for Walker’s death during the press conference, rhetorically asking, “Was their hand on the knife?” Then, answering, “It might as well have been.”
Ten inmates have died at the Fulton County Jail this year, with six lives recently lost in a six-week period. The latest inmate death caused at the facility happened on September 3, when 24-year-old Shandre Delmore succumbed to his injuries in a hospital after being discovered unresponsive in his cell on August 31.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office previously reported “multiple stabbings” at the facility on August 31, leading to the death of 23-year-old Dayvion Blake, who died at Grady Memorial Hospital shortly after the incident.
Georgia Republicans became vocal critics of the facility after former President Donald Trump and others indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis were required to surrender at the Fulton County Jail.
State Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) recently compared the conditions at the facility to a “concentration camp” during an appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” asserting that Willis is “not doing her job” of quickly processing cases against defendants. Instead, Beach said, “she’s obsessed with Donald Trump” and “this political witch hunt for her own political gain.” John Fredericks is the publisher of The Georgia Star News.
Similarly, former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, who is a resident of Fulton County, told Fredericks “[w]e don’t really have the rule of law right now” because Willis is “going after Trump” in an effort to “interfere in the 2024 election.”
“In Fulton County, the case backlog is 40,000,” said Loeffler. She added, “We had 10 inmates die in Fulton County Jail waiting for their own case to be heard.”
In July, the Department of Justice announced an investigation of the Fulton County Jail to “examine living conditions, medical and mental health care, use of excessive force, and protection from violence” and to determine if the facility discriminates “against persons with psychiatric disabilities.” Less than a month after that investigation was launched, Fulton County approved a settlement with the family of LeShawn Thompson, whose body was found covered in insect bites at the facility last year.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
