After more than a decade of legal whiplash, Trey Jones is set to receive a $10 million settlement over his wrongful prosecution in the 2013 killing of 11-year-old McKenzie Sessoms in Sampson County. Jones was just 14 when he was arrested, and he spent roughly five years either behind bars or under court supervision before prosecutors dropped the case following DNA testing. The payout brings to a close a federal civil-rights lawsuit that accused law enforcement of serious misconduct in the original investigation.
On Tuesday, a federal judge signed off on the deal, and court filings show the money will be placed into a trust and paid out through a structured settlement annuity intended to support Jones over the long haul, according to ABC11. The outlet also notes that, under the lawsuit, no one else has been charged in Sessoms' death.
Suit Says He Was Coerced As A Teen
The federal complaint, filed in December 2023 by Jones' guardian ad litem, paints a grim picture of how investigators handled the case. It alleges that officers pushed a cognitively impaired 14-year-old into confessing during an unrecorded interview conducted without a parent present. The suit names Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton, two deputies and an SBI special agent, and describes the interrogation as coercive, according to The News & Observer.
Case Background And Exoneration
Sessoms was found dead in her Salemburg home in September 2013, and Jones was arrested months later in connection with her killing. A judge later suppressed his statement, and prosecutors ultimately dismissed the case in March 2021 after DNA testing failed to tie him to the crime, according to WRAL. In the meantime, Jones spent years either in jail or on house arrest while the case crawled through the courts, and local reporting indicates that the homicide investigation remains open.
Settlement Details And Who Will Pay
Legal reporting and court filings indicate that insurers will shoulder most of the $10 million, with about $8 million paid on behalf of an SBI agent and roughly $2 million on behalf of Sampson County and its law-enforcement defendants. U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan of the Eastern District of North Carolina approved the deal, which also outlines contingency-fee allocations to Jones' attorneys and identifies the case as Jones v. Thornton (7:23-cv-01676), according to Law360.
What Comes Next
"The settlement sets an important precedent for protecting people with intellectual disabilities," one of Jones' lawyers said, as reported by Law360. Civil-rights advocates argue the case highlights the need for much clearer rules when police interview juveniles who have cognitive impairments. While the settlement resolves Jones' federal claims, it does not close the book on the underlying homicide. Local officials say the investigation into Sessoms' killing is still active and that no new arrests have been announced, according to ABC11.
