A former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice and Shelby County Circuit Court judge will mediate the civil wrongful death suit filed by the widow of an inmate who died last year at the Shelby County Jail. 

Janice M. Holder, who was the first woman to lead the state’s highest court, will oversee negotiations between lawyers for Nicole Freeman and Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., Chief Jailer Kirk Fields and Shelby County government. 

Gershun Freeman’s family suing county for $100 million

The deadline for mediation to take place is July 1.

Freeman is asking for $100 million in the suit over the death of her late husband, Gershun Freeman, who died Oct. 5, 2022, after an altercation with corrections officers at the jail.

All three of the suit’s defendants have filed to get themselves dismissed.

Nine corrections officers allegedly involved in Gershun Freeman’s death have been indicted in Shelby County Criminal Court. 

All nine — Courtney Parham, Stevon Jones, Damian Cooper, Ebonee Davis, Chelsey Duckett, Lareko Elliott, Charles Gatewood, Jeffrey Gibson and Anthony Howell — have pleaded not guilty.

Trial date set in Gershun Freeman civil case

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 the death of another.

Four of those officers also allegedly beat another inmate — Corey Lurry — just days prior to Gershun Freeman’s death, according to a Nov. 22, 2022, complaint filed by Lurry.

Recently, lawyers for Nicole Freeman sought to add those allegations into an amended complaint in her suit. U.S. District Mark Norris has not yet ruled on the matter.