More than six months later Anthony Johnson Jr.. died in the Tarrant County Jail, Tarrant County commissioners approved outside attorneys to represent themselves and eight other defendants in a lawsuit filed by Johnson’s family.

Commissioners voted on those items at a special meeting Tuesday. after being removed from a previous agenda.

The lawsuit names 16 defendants in total: Tarrant County, Joe Garcia, Rafael Moreno, Jaquavious Simmons, Elijah Marez, Johnathan Nymoen, Tyrone Caldwell, Royce Moody, Kimberly Nobles, Phylicia Hollie, Angel Sanchez, Jevon Stubbs, Steven Gil, Kyle Longo, David. Pitcock and Robert Russ.

NBCDFW.com

At Tuesday’s meeting, county commissioners approved outside attorneys for eight defendants, at $30,000 each.

Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said that because of conflict of interest rules, they must hire different outside attorneys for each employee named in the case.

Commissioners also approved up to $100,000 to retain outside counsel for the entire case.

“Hiring outside counsel for the overall litigation strategy is only a prudent decision to ensure that we have the best counsel available to represent the Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Tarrant County,” said O ‘Hare to NBC 5 after Tuesday’s meeting.

The motion passed unanimously, with only Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons voting against.

“If we hire an external company, the first thing they will do is act as a mediator. So why can’t we negotiate internally with our DA’s office? Are we saying the skill level isn’t there? Simmons said during court.

She said she expects the prosecutor’s office to come back and ask for more money for court costs.

“It won’t cost $100,000. We’re going to spend a lot more than that to fight this family in an effort to defend ourselves against something we clearly saw happening on camera, and that is the extinction of Anthony Johnson Jr.’s life.” Simmons told NBC 5.

It’s a concern some neighbors also raised during public comments Tuesday.

“The best way to control costs here is to step back and seriously engage in a mediation process to respect this family’s grief, recognize that Tarrant County owes restitution to Mr. Johnson’s family and to manage the county’s resources responsibly,” said Dr. Harriet Harral.

“The cost seems enormous,” said another neighbor, Julie Griffin.

“This will be in addition to the salaries already paid to civil prosecutors,” added Reed Bilz. “They should already be working on mediation to resolve this matter.”

Commissioners have already approved outside attorneys for at least two other jailers named in the lawsuit, bringing the total bill to at least $400,000.

O’Hare said he was open to mediation, but defended his vote Tuesday to hire an outside lawyer.

“We are going to spend the money wisely and I believe what has been done today is an efficient use of taxpayer dollars that will hopefully allow us to reach a resolution to this matter as soon as possible ” he said.

A grand jury indicted two jailers, Rafael Moreno and Lt. Joel Garcia, for the murder of Anthony Johnson Jr. who is headed to the DA’s office for prosecution.