By Carol Robinson
al.com
JASPER, Ala. — Three former correctional officers at the Walker County Jail formally pleaded guilty Friday to misdemeanor charges in connection to the 2023 death of inmate Tony Mitchell.
Braxton Chase Kee, Karen Kim Elsie Kelly, and Heather Lasha Craig entered their guilty pleas before Northern District of Alabama U.S. Magistrate John England.
All three pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under color of law. They will remain on bond pending sentencing.
The probe into the bizarre and brutal death has led to 25 people being indicted — 24 of those in connection with Mitchell’s death.
The other was a jail officer who has pleaded guilty in falsifying records in an unrelated 2022 case of an inmate assault.
Of the 24 charged in the Mitchell case, eight have now formally entered guilty pleas but have not yet been sentenced. Five more have agreed to plead guilty but have not yet officially done so.
Twelve defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Mitchell was at the Walker County Jail for two weeks before he died of hypothermia and sepsis on Jan. 26, 2023.
He was arrested on Jan. 12, 2023, during a mental health welfare check. Family members feared the 33-year-old was a danger, as he’d sprayed his face and body with black paint and claimed to have a “portal to hell.”
After Walker County deputies arrived, Mitchell fired a gun, authorities said.
At the jail, authorities placed him in Cell BK5, a booking cell that was designated as suicide watch and nicknamed “the Freezer,” according to a lawsuit filed by Mitchell’s family. He was allegedly left naked, wet and covered in feces on the concrete floor.
Kee was indicted in June.
Records state Kee, from his earliest interactions with Mitchell, believed that Mitchell was mentally unwell because he frequently wasn’t lucid, often didn’t eat his food and regularly appeared to be covered in feces.
Kee, according to his plea agreement, became sufficiently concerned about Mitchell’s condition and raised the issue with the captain and others, but said the medical staff appeared to be avoiding Mitchell because the treatment did not change.
On Jan. 19, 2023 – a week before Mitchell’s death – Kee and another unnamed jailer took Mitchell a cup of water. As they were leaving, Mitchell reached his arm out of the cell.
Kee repeatedly kicked at Mitchell’s arm to move it. A supervisor then tried to move Mitchell out of the way.
Kelly was the initial whistleblower that linked jail surveillance video of Mitchell’s treatment.
Craig, authorities said, knew Mitchell suffered from cruel jail conditions but did not alert appropriate authorities.
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