A jury found Kendrick Johnson’s parents and five other family members guilty of misdemeanor charges related to a 2013 protest, attorney Benjamin Crump said Wednesday.
Sentencing is slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET, and Crump said he believes they will be sentenced to time served.
Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson and five family members each faced a charge of interference with government property for allegedly blocking the entrance to the Lowndes County Courthouse in Valdosta, Georgia, and blocking access to the security checkpoint inside the building.
The demonstration was planned after Johnson’s parents became frustrated with the lack of information they’d received from local investigators regarding their son, who was found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat at his south Georgia high school in January 2013, another defense attorney, Chevene King, said earlier this week.
Footage published on YouTube shows authorities arresting family members who held hands, blocking a door to the courthouse. Another video posted to a Kendrick Johnson tribute page on Facebook shows family members later, inside the courthouse, joining hands in front of the checkpoint. The family and others can be heard chanting, “No justice, no peace,” as officers step in to arrest them.
The relatives, who call themselves the “KJ 7,” were arrested and released on bond in the April 25, 2013, incident, King said.
All seven pleaded not guilty, and King said Monday there were no plans to entertain any potential plea deals.
Each of the seven family members faced the possibility of up to a year in prison, a $1,000 fine, or both.
In May 2013, the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office announced it was closing its investigation into Johnson’s death after determining that Johnson, 17, slipped into the mat while reaching for a shoe and got stuck. An autopsy completed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation concluded Johnson died of accidental positional asphyxia.
Months later, a pathologist hired by the Johnsons conducted a second autopsy and found evidence of “unexplained, apparent nonaccidental blunt force trauma” to the 17-year-old’s neck. That pathologist concluded the death was a homicide.
In October 2013, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Michael Moore, launched a federal investigation, which is ongoing.