Kendrick Johnson's parents go on trial for protest

VALDOSTA, Ga. - Opening statements were slated to begin Tuesday in the trial of seven relatives of Kendrick Johnson, the Georgia teen found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat in his high school two years ago.

Johnson's parents, Jacquelyn and Kenneth Johnson, along with 5 other family members, are facing charges of civil disobedience for allegedly unlawfully blocking access to government property when they held a protest at the entrance of the Lowndes County Judicial Complex in April 2013.

Each of the seven defendants could reportedly face up to a year in prison and/or a $1,000 fine. They have all pleaded not guilty, according to their lawyer, Chevene King.

King said the protest was part of an effort to obtain official findings pertaining to the death of the 17-year-old Johnson.

"It wasn't until seven days after that protest that the Lowndes County Sheriff's Department released the investigative file of the teen's death," said King.

The Lowndes County Sheriff's Office ruled Johnson's January 10, 2013 death was a freak accident, saying he fell head-first into an upright mat in the gymnasium at Lowndes High School while trying to retrieve a shoe, and became trapped. An autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation agreed, citing asphyxiation as the cause of death.

Johnson's family, however, insisted there was foul play involved and had their son's body exhumed for a second autopsy. It was then that a private pathologist concluded the teen died of blunt force trauma to the neck and said his organs were missing and the teen's body had been stuffed with newspaper.

Since then, Johnson's family and their attorneys have zeroed in on two brothers - the sons of a local FBI agent - who the family contends were on campus when Johnson was last seen alive, and who they say had motive to harm their son since one of the brothers had previously been in a fight with Johnson on a school bus about a year before his death.

The Lowndes County Sheriff's Department has stood by its finding that Johnson's death was accidental and maintains at least one of the brothers was not on campus when Johnson was last seen alive, and the other was in another part of the building. No charges have been brought in the case.

In October 2013, U.S. Attorney Michael Moore initiated a federal probe into Johnson's death. Moore said earlier this month that the investigation has "proven more complicated and taken longer" than he had anticipated.

Johnson's parents have several lawsuits pending related to their son's death. Earlier this month, they filed a $100 million lawsuit alleging the local FBI agent encouraged his sons to "violently assault" the teen, leading to his death. The suit names a total of 38 defendants, including several officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Valdosta Police Department, the city of Valdosta, the Lowndes County Sheriff's Department and the Lowndes County School District, all of whom the parents allege conspired to cover-up their son's murder.

Brice Ladson, an attorney for the FBI agent and the agent's sons, called the lawsuit "frivolous," according to the Associated Press.

James Elliott, who represents the sheriff's department as the attorney for Lowndes County, agreed, saying the accusations "are unfounded and lack any basis in law or fact."