Family alleged guards knew that David Henegar was in danger, but took no action to prevent his being attacked, and provided no assistance when he was.
AUGUSTA, GA — More than four years after David Henegar was beaten to death in Johnson State Prison, his sister Betty Wade—on behalf of Mr. Henegar’s estate—has accepted a $4 million settlement in the lawsuit against the guards who allegedly stood by and let Mr. Henegar get beaten to death over the course of five hours.
The settlement agreement came just over a week before a federal jury was scheduled to hear the case. It is one of the largest settlements in Georgia Department of Corrections history.
“No amount of money can bring my brother back, or make up for the pain he suffered due to the prison’s failures,” says Ms. Wade. “This settlement is a form of accountability, not only for my brother, but for everyone incarcerated in the Georgia Department of Corrections.”
At the time of his death, David Henegar, 44, was incarcerated on a parole violation at Johnson State Prison in Wrightsville. He had repeatedly reported to the guards—and in writing to prison officials—that his cellmate was in a deteriorating mental state and posed a serious danger to both himself and Mr. Henegar. In fact, one week before his death, Mr. Henegar’s cellmate had choked Mr. Henegar unconscious, yet prison officials still did nothing to intervene.
Over the course of several hours on the morning of October 16, 2021, Mr. Henegar’s cellmate hogtied Mr. Henegar and violently beat and choked him. According to the lawsuit, corrections officer Donald Langon heard the attack, heard Mr. Henegar begging for his life and asking to be separated from his cellmate, and heard other inmates pleading for help on Mr. Henegar’s behalf, but did nothing other than simply telling Mr. Henegar to “deal with it.”
Hours after the attack began, guards coming through the cellblock on rounds observed Mr. Henegar lying on the floor of his cell with a sheet over his body, but did not check on him. Finally, when Mr. Henegar was still unresponsive several hours later, guards entered the cell and found Mr. Henegar dead from strangulation and blunt force trauma.
“This was a completely preventable tragedy,” says attorney Megan Pierce of Loevy + Loevy. “If any one of a number of prison officials had simply done their jobs, let alone shown one ounce of concern for David Henegar’s welfare, he would still be alive today.”
Sadly, this was not even Mr. Henegar’s first experience of serious neglect from the Georgia prison system. Over four days in 2016, while incarcerated in Walker State Prison in Rock Springs, the prison failed to provide him with the medication that controlled his epilepsy. On the fourth day, he suffered serious epileptic seizures that left him oxygen-deprived for nearly 20 minutes, causing severe brain damage.
His lawsuit over that violation of his civil rights was still working its way through the courts when Mr. Henegar was killed. His sister became the lead plaintiff in that lawsuit as well.
The lawsuit over his death charged four correctional officers with multiple violations of Mr. Henegar’s civil rights, including failures of due process and several charges under the Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment. In making the settlement agreement with Ms. Wade and the family, and avoiding a trial, the Defendants in this case make no admission of guilt.
“The state has a duty to care for, and protect, people in its custody, and Georgia repeatedly and tragically failed that duty in regard to David Henegar,” says attorney Rachel Brady. “David deserved to be treated with dignity. He deserved to be protected and cared for, both because he was a human being, and because the United States Constitution required it. He deserved better than he got, and we can only hope this settlement helps convince the Georgia Department of Corrections, in the future, to do better by the people in their care.”
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