The Hardeman County Sheriff's Office announced that all claims brought forth by Jerry Lawler against Hardeman County officials in the case of his son Brian Christopher's suicide have been dismissed.
Christopher (Brian Lawler) was arrested for DUI on July 7, 2018. He was found hanging in a cell on July 29, 2018.
Lawler sued Hardeman County, Hardeman County Sheriff Doolen, Leonard Brown, Judy Wiggins, Ellen Futrell, and William Gonzalez.
Lawler's suit claimed that Hardeman County authorities did not get his son treatment for drug and alcohol issues and, after he was injured in a fight, they put him in solitary confinement, where he used his shoelaces and bolts in his cell to commit suicide.
Claims against Doolen and Brown were denied in September 2022, but were not denied against the county, Wiggins, Futrell, and Gonzalez. Those parties appealed, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the original court's ruling, claiming that Wiggins, Futrell, and Gonzalez had qualified immunity that protected them from being sued.
In September 2024, the same court reconsidered the ruling on Lawler's remaining claims against Hardeman County and granted the county's motion for summary judgment, HCSO said. As a result, all of Lawler's claims regarding his son's death in the Hardeman County Jail were dismissed.
