A trial date has been set in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by the widow of an inmate who died at the Shelby County Jail last year.

The federal suit against Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., chief jailer Kirk Fields and Shelby County government about the death of Gershun Freeman is scheduled for trial March 24, 2025.

Freeman died at the jail Oct. 5, 2022, after being beaten by corrections officers.

Officers indicted in Gershun Freeman’s death beat another inmate days before, documents allege

Nine of those officers are now facing criminal charges for their alleged roles in his death.

Freeman’s widow Nicole Freeman originally filed suit in April without seeking a specific monetary amount. She amended her complaint in October and is now suing all three defendants for $100 million. 

All three parties – Bonner, Fields and county government – have filed motions to dismiss themselves from the suit. 

Nicole Freeman filed a third amended complaint Dec. 8 and added allegations that four of the officers charged in her late husband’s death also allegedly beat another inmate just days prior. 

Corey Lurry, an inmate at the jail, filed a pro se motion — meaning he filed it on his own without a lawyer — in federal court Nov. 12, 2022, alleging he was beaten by corrections officers two separate times Sept. 27 and 28, 2022.

Gershun Freeman’s family suing county for $100 million

Lurry wrote in the complaint he was allegedly beaten by several officers including Jeffrey Gibson, Charles Gatewood and Lareko Elliott.

Nicole Freeman’s amended complaint also adds Ebonee Davis as one of the officers who allegedly beat Lurry.

Lurry’s complaint only refers to the three corrections officers by last name. Lurry wrote that as inmates, they are not told the first names of corrections officers or detention-response team members, a unit of corrections officers within the jail.

U.S. District Judge Mark Norris, who is presiding over the case, is currently considering whether he will permit those allegations to be added. 

If he rules they cannot be added, Freeman’s attorney Jake Brown has requested more time to respond to the dismissal motions.

Corrections officers indicted in death of Gershun Freeman make first court appearance

All nine of the officers facing criminal charges in Freeman’s death — Courtney Parham, Stevon Jones, Chelsey Duckett, Gibson, Elliott, Damian Cooper, Davis, Anthony Howell and Gatewood — have now pleaded not guilty. 

Parham and Jones are charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in Freeman’s death. Jones also is charged with assault-bodily harm.

The other seven are charged with aggravated assault resulting in death of another.