ATLANTA — Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson, the parents of the late Kendrick Johnson, filed an updated lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in connection with their son’s death certificate.
The lawsuit accuses the Georgia Department of Public Health of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1871 and the Fourteenth Amendment by listing teen Kendrick Johnson’s death as accidental positional asphyxia — a finding the Johnsons say has been scientifically disproven. The suit says the DPH is thus keeping “erroneous” and “fraudulent” vital records.
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Kendrick Johnson was found dead in a rolled-up wrestling mat at Lowndes County High School in Valdosta, Georgia, in January 2013.
Investigators ruled his death was an accident. Johnson’s family believe he was killed.
The lawsuit says the Johnsons requested that the death certificate for their son be changed based on two medical examinations performed by forensic pathologist William Anderson. The pathologist said Kendrick Johnson died from non-accidental blunt force trauma based on a “collapsed and hemorrhaging carotid artery from his autopsy.”
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The family says the DPH didn’t correct the cause of death despite requests to do so from 2023 to the present, nor did the state reject the request to amend, thus preventing the family from having an avenue of appeal.
The lawsuit also calls into question the care taken with Kendrick Johnson’s body after the body was taken from Lowndes County High School property. The family says Kendrick Johnson’s internal organs were not returned to his family, “raising significant chain of custody violations, overt and criminal on the face.”
The family alleges “undue nefarious influences in higher state government positions of influence and power” for the roadblocks they have experienced in the case.
The lawsuit also calls into question the state’s autopsy by Dr. Maryanne Kraft, and claims Kendrick Johnson’s body was “butchered” to cover up evidence of blunt force trauma.
The lawsuit is seeking $6,000,000 in compensatory damages, $6,000,000 in punitive damages, an amended death certificate for Kendrick Johnson and a jury trial.
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