Law360 (June 3, 2026, 2:26 PM EDT) -- A North Carolina federal judge approved Tuesday a $10 million compromise settlement that ends a North Carolina man's civil rights lawsuit alleging he was coerced as a teen into falsely confessing to the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
The funds — to be apportioned into a trust and a qualified structured settlement annuity — will benefit 27-year-old Antonio Trey Jones through the course of his life, U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan said in the Tuesday
order.
Insurers and the state
will pay $8 million on behalf of William Brady, a former special agent for the
North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The other $2 million will be paid by insurers on behalf of Sampson County Sheriff James Thornton, other county law enforcement officials, and the
Ohio Casualty Insurance Co.
The judge also approved a 40% total contingency cost to Jones' counsel from
The Richardson Firm PLLC and
Howard Stallings Law Firm. Each firm nets $1.75 million in attorney fees, and an additional $250,000 from the state's share of the settlement.
Jones' guardian ad litem Charles M. Brittain III sued on his behalf in December 2023, alleging Jones' civil rights were violated when detectives coerced him into falsely confessing to the rape and murder of McKenzie Sessoms. Jones was an intellectually disabled 14-year-old at the time.
DNA results eventually exonerated Jones. Nearly seven years after his arrest, prosecutors voluntarily dismissed pending charges.
"Plaintiff's settlement sets an important precedent in protecting the rights of individuals with intellectual disability and affirms the duty of law enforcement to disclose that disability to others," Jones' counsel Patrick R. Anstead of The Richardson Firm told Law360 in a statement.
Counsel for Brady and the Sampson County defendants did not immediately respond to a comment request.
Jones is represented by Patrick R. Anstead of The Richardson Firm PLLC and Robert Henry Jessup IV of Howard Stallings Law Firm.
Thornton, Sampson County, its law enforcement officers and Ohio Casualty are represented by F. Marshall Wall and Ryan Bostic of
Cranfill Sumner LLP.
Brady is represented by Scott Lewis and Lance Martin of
Butler Snow LLP and J. Locke Milholland IV of the
North Carolina Department of Justice.
The case is Jones v. Thornton et al., case number
7:23-cv-01676, in the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
--Editing by Marygrace Anderson.
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