On November 13, Jovian Motley, a corrections officer at the TDCJ Wainwright Unit, died at the prison. Now, his family is looking for answers.
The family and their attorneys looked at what they have called a “highly obstructed video” for the first time, and now, they have many more concerns.
“…not only do we believe, but we know that TDCJ, its officials, and its policies are 100% responsible for the death of Jovian Motley,” stated lawyer Deric Muhammad.
Relatives say that Jovian was the fourth man in a five-man team trying to restrain an inmate. Jovian was told to hold the inmate’s legs as a sixth person, a supervisor, recorded the incident.
Lawyer Justin Moore says that they were told that the cell was dimly lit. However, when they looked at the recording to determine how Jovian died, the cell was pitch black, and they weren’t able to see anything.
Tammica Motley says she isn’t pleased with the details that was provided to her by TDCJ and added that her son’s death could have been prevented if it wasn’t for bad policies and procedures. The relatives are also trying to figure out how the interaction began with the inmate and a timeline of the events. But, Moore says that they believe that the incident began as a petty grievance that one of the officers had with the inmate.
Right now, there is no lawsuit in place, but Moore has stated that there was gross negligence that occurred at Wainwright in this particular case.
