A 27-year-old Texas man pleaded guilty two years after being accused of fatally beating his 19-year-old cellmate, who had “extreme intellectual disabilities,” according to officials.
Michael Ownby was accused of beating to death 19-year-old Fred Harris in Harris County Jail on Oct. 29, 2021. He pleaded guilty to murder charges on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, reported Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Harris’ mother, Dallas Garcia, filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Harris County and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, alleging that staffing shortages and overcrowding contributed to her son’s tragic death.
Garcia’s lawsuit claims that video evidence from the Harris County Jail, although not publicly accessible, shows Ownby stabbing Fred Harris with a “sharpened utensil” and smashing and kicking his head against the concrete floor.
The lawsuit also alleges that Harris County, aware of Fred Harris’ disabilities, including mental illness, discriminated against him by failing to provide reasonable accommodations for which he qualified.
“If they had done their jobs, Ownby wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do what he did — to murder my son,” Garcia told KTRK.
McClatchy News reached out to Harris County Jail and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and is awaiting response.
Fred Harris, weighing just 98 pounds, was placed in the same cell as Ownby, a repeat violent offender weighing 240 pounds, at the time of the incident, according to the lawsuit.
Ownby had previously attacked a detention officer and another inmate before his attack on Fred Harris, revealed documents.
Fred Harris was booked on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after authorities said he “exhibited a knife” to someone. The family’s attorney, Randall Kallinen, stated that Fred Harris had no previous disciplinary issues and was never arrested before.
Now, Garcia hopes her lawsuit can shed light on what led up to her son’s final moments.
“I want (the public) to know exactly what went on,” she told KTRK. “I want them to see how evil took place.”
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