Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
Asa Garcia, Fred Harris’ sister, stands with her family outside of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, where the murder trial of Michael Ownby began on Nov. 27, 2023.
Harris County has agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a federal lawsuit about the 2021 beating death of a special needs teen inside the Harris County Jail.
The civil rights lawsuit emerged in 2022, nearly a year after 19-year-old, 98-pound Fred Harris was attacked and beaten to death inside a jail cell by an inmate nearly twice his size. The settlement, which was reached in January, draws the lengthy legal battle to a close and includes a broad provision barring Harris’ mother, Dallas Garcia, from making any future claims or causes of action against Harris County related to the incident.
The legal complaint filed by his mother claimed that Harris wore a wristband indicating he was not to be placed in jail with other inmates considered potentially violent. Harris should’ve also received escorts and protections by jail staff because of his disability, according to the lawsuit.
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Despite the lawsuit being settled, details about the settlement payout were considered private, Randall Kallinen, a civil rights attorney representing Garcia, said. A review of the settlement agreement obtained by Houston Public Media through a public records request shows $1.2 million will be paid to Kallinen’s law firm on behalf of Garcia and $50,000 will go to Harris’ estate.
Kallinen did not immediately respond to follow-up requests for comment.
Harris County commissioners, who must sign off on the county’s final lawsuit payouts, discussed the settlement during a closed-door session in November last year.
In 2023, 25-year-old Michael Ownby pleaded guilty to Harris’ murder a day after a trial began. Court documents detail the incident in which Ownby repeatedly slammed Harris’ head against the concrete floor and stabbed him with a makeshift weapon made from a sharpened eating utensil.
Harris was transported to Ben Taub Hospital and pronounced brain dead days later.
Harris had been booked into the jail on Oct. 11, 2021, on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge for allegedly wielding a knife.
Ownby is serving out a 50-year prison sentence at a high-security Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility in Tennessee Colony, east of Waco. He will be eligible for parole in 25 years.
A defense attorney who represented Ownby in the case did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.
Twenty people died in the jail’s custody last year, an uptick from 10 in 2024. Many of them had preexisting medical conditions and suffered medical emergencies inside the facility, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The Harris County Sheriff’s Office continues to extend sincere condolences to Fred Harris’ family for his tragic death at the hands of another inmate,” Jason Spencer, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said in a statement to Houston Public Media on Wednesday.