Georgia pays $4M to end prisoner’s death case on eve of trial, attorneys say

David Henegar was in Johnson State Prison for a parole violation when he was beaten to death over five hours by his cellmate while staff ignored his screams and cries for help, according to a lawsuit his family’s attorneys said Georgia has settled for $4 million.

Henegar, 44, was supposed to have been released to a jail in another county two weeks before the deadly attack on Oct. 16, 2021, but prison officials kept him in custody in Wrightsville because of an administrative delay, lawyers for his family said.

Rachel Brady, an attorney for Henegar’s sister and son, said they blame his death on Georgia Department of Corrections staff more than they blame the cellmate, Antone Hinton-Leonard, who is charged with murder.

“Everybody in the dorm could hear it. David himself asked the guard for help, and the guard told him to deal with it and then just moved on,” Brady told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Inmates in the dorm were banging their flaps and hollering and kicking their doors and trying to get the guard’s attention, and the guard just ignored everybody.”

A spokesperson for the corrections department deferred questions Monday to the office of Attorney General Chris Carr.

The settlement was announced late last week by the lawyers who represent Henegar’s sister and son — Betty Wade and David Jacob Henegar — in their lawsuit against three corrections officers and a prison manager employed by the state.

The prison staff could have prevented Henegar’s death but failed to protect him, the case alleged.

Attorneys for the defendants did not respond Friday to questions about the case.

In court filings, the prison staff denied any wrongdoing, saying they were not aware Henegar was at risk of harm or that he had been attacked. They said they did not violate Henegar’s constitutional rights or cause his death.

Records reviewed by the AJC show the settlement is one of the largest of its kind in Georgia.

The state paid $5 million to the family of prisoner Thomas Henry Giles who died in his smoke-filled cell in the mental health unit at Augusta State Medical Prison in 2020. That is believed to be the largest amount paid to settle a claim against Georgia over a state prison inmate’s death or injury.

Wade said no amount of money can bring her brother back or make up for the pain he suffered because of the prison’s failures.

“This settlement is a form of accountability, not only for my brother, but for everyone incarcerated in the Georgia Department of Corrections,” she said.

The case over Henegar’s death was due to be tried before a federal jury in the Southern District of Georgia starting March 9, but the trial was canceled because of the settlement, court records show.

Brady said the parties agreed to the settlement terms at the start of March and the deal was finalized by the end of the month. She said she doesn’t know how much of the $4 million paid to Henegar’s estate by the Georgia Department of Administrative Services comes from the state’s insurers.

Brady said Henegar had complained to a number of prison staff about the danger posed by his cellmate, whose mental health problems were repeatedly reported to guards by prisoners. She said Hinton-Leonard choked Henegar to the point of unconsciousness a week before the fatal attack.

Hinton-Leonard had shared a cell with Henegar since August 2021, the lawsuit says.

Brady said Henegar was transferred to Johnson State Prison in 2020, having been incarcerated for a nonviolent parole violation the year prior. She said he was convicted in 2012 of burglary and paroled around 2018.

At the time of his death, Henegar was awaiting transfer to a jail in another county in relation to a theft charge, Brady said.

She said evidence in the civil suit included surveillance footage and sworn testimony from prison guards. Court records show several corrections staff were to be called as witnesses at trial.

Wade believes her brother would have wanted his death to mean something, Brady said.

“It is her hope that with a settlement this high, it sends a very strong message to the Department of Corrections that they cannot keep letting this happen,” Brady said. “If the Department of Corrections learns that they can’t get off the hook with low settlements for egregious cases like this, it will help improve safety for everyone.”