A North Carolina man who claimed through a guardian that he was coerced as a teen into falsely confessing to the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl has agreed to a $10 million deal with the state and county law enforcement, in which insurers will foot most of the bill.

Antonio Trey Jones and his guardian ad litem, Charles M. Brittain III, agreed to a settlement in which insurers and the state will pay $8 million on behalf of William Brady, a former special agent for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, according to a memorandum in support of a joint motion for compromise settlement, filed Thursday. The other $2 million will be paid on behalf of Sampson County Sheriff James Thornton, other county law enforcement officials, and the Ohio Casualty Insurance Co.

Counsel for Jones from The Richardson Firm PLLC and from Howard Stallings Law Firm have asked for $1.75 million each in attorney fees, and an additional $250,000 each from the state's share of the settlement, if and when it can find the funds. This represents a 40% total contingency cost.

The Richardson Firm is asking the court for $91,000 in cost reimbursement, while Howard Stallings seeks $238,000, according to a distribution memo.

Brittain sued in December 2023, seeking damages for the years of incarceration Jones suffered, alongside resulting emotional and physical injuries. Sampson County detectives allegedly coerced Jones into giving a false confession to the rape and murder of McKenzie Sessoms, an 11-year-old neighbor, according to the lawsuit.

Jones was an intellectually disabled 14-year-old at the time, according to the memo. He was separated from his mother and treated like an adult during interrogations, and law enforcement failed to recognize or account for his intellectual disabilities despite "obvious" signs of it, according to the memo.

Andrew Worley, at the time a detective with the Sampson County Sheriff's Department, and Brady interrogated Jones and later relied on this confession, rather than physical evidence, to back his prolonged imprisonment.

DNA results eventually exonerated Jones. In 2020, a North Carolina Superior Court judge suppressed the confession. Soon after — and nearly seven years after Jones' arrest — prosecutors voluntarily dismissed pending charges.

Brittain brought deprivation of rights claims under the Fourth, Fifth and 14th Amendments as well as state law claims, arguing the criminal proceedings lacked probable cause and led to Jones' unjust, years-long incarceration.

Brady agreed to settle the claims for $8 million, a portion of which will be placed in a qualified structured settlement annuity for Jones' guaranteed benefit. Of that, $1 million is payable by the state and $7 million by Lexington Insurance Co., according to a distribution memorandum. The state's share is contingent on its funding availability.

Sampson County, Thornton, Worley and fellow detective Christopher Godwin, and Liberty Mutual-owned Ohio Casualty separately agreed to settle for $2 million. According to a claim release form, Allied World National Assurance Co., National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, Nova Casualty Co. and QBE Specialty Insurance Co. will cover that cost. It's unclear if the detectives are still employed by the county.

To ensure maximum benefit to Jones through his life, $1 million of the settlement will go into an irrevocable trust, and just over $4.1 million into a structured settlement annuity, with payments directed into the trust, according to the memo.

The funds secured now are projected to benefit Jones to the tune of $13.3 million over the life of the annuity, according to the memo. This type of settlement recovery is in his best future interest, as his assets will be professionally managed for his sole benefit throughout his life, it said.

The memo clarified that Jones' counsel and Brittain did not initiate competency proceedings due to the risk of permanent loss of certain of Jones' rights, as week as a lack of clarity on whether Jones meets the requirements for legal incompetence.

After being incarcerated, Jones suffered "severe emotional distress and physical abuse" and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by a forensic psychiatrist. The settlement funds will permit him to maintain private health insurance and get mental healthcare and medication for the rest of his life, according to the memo.

The 40% total contingency fee agreement for Jones' attorneys is reasonable, according to the memo. Although the years-long, complex civil litigation "sounds of" wrongful conviction, Jones was never convicted on these charges, creating an uncommon procedural posture, it said.

The attorneys not only took the case on contingency, but did so after Jones and his father were rejected by every attorney they spoke to for 2.5 years, they said.

Jones' attorneys believe this deal "has no analogue" and is the largest civil rights settlement in the history of the Eastern District of North Carolina, "in a malicious prosecution style suit" where the plaintiff wasn't convicted.

Counsel for Jones and Brady declined to comment Tuesday. Counsel for the Sampson County defendants did not respond to a comment request.

Jones is represented by Patrick R. Anstead of The Richardson Firm PLLC, and Robert Henry Jessup IV of Howard Stallings Law Firm.

Thornton, Worley, Godwin, Sampson County and Ohio Casualty are represented by F. Marshall Wall and Ryan Bostic of Cranfill Sumner LLP.

Brady is represented by Scott Lewis and Lance Martin of Butler Snow LLP, and J. Locke Milholland IV of the North Carolina Department of Justice.

The case is Jones v. Thornton et al., case number 7:23-cv-01676, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.