HUNT, Tommy T. --
From the Gonzales Inquirer, Tuesday, August 5, 1997
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Jury rules jail
death a suicide

Caldwell County not found culpable

     The Sept. 28, 1995 death of Gonzales resident Tommy T. Hunt, was a suicide, according
to a federal jury ruling Wednesday. A civil lawsuit brought by Hunt's mother Mary Clack alleged
that he died as a result of an assault while in custody at the Caldwell County Jail.
     Clack was seeking a $5 million in compensation, and $7 million in exemplary damages,
claiming that Caldwell County, Sheriff Mike Bading, and four jailers violated Hunt's
constitutional rights by inflicting cruel and unusual punishment and denying adequate medical
care.
     According to a Thursday, July 31 story in the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin jury
sided with Caldwell County, which maintained that Hunt--who died from a blood clot in the
brain--committed suicide by banging his head on the wall of his padded cell.
     Hunt was booked into the Caldwell County Jail on Sept. 22, 1995 under a 60-day
sentence for burglary. He reportedly died in Brackenridge Hospital the day after jailers called
paramedics after they found him gasping for air in his cell.
     According to the Statesman article, there were two conflicting opinions by medical
examiners. Travis county Medical Examiner Robert Bayardo reportedly testified that liver damage
due to alcohol caused Hunt to bruise easily, and tentatively call the death a suicide, though he
didn't issue a final ruling.
     Robert Bux, deputy chief medical examiner for Bexar County, reportedly testified that
after reviewing photographs and documents, he believed Hunt had been beaten.
     A review of the death by a Caldwell County grand jury returned no indictments.