COURTS

Families of victim, attacker in fatal UT stabbing reach settlement

Ryan Autullo, autullo@statesman.com
Lori Brown, center, walks into state District Judge Tamara Needles 427th District Court in December 2018. Former University of Texas student Kendrex White was found not guilty for reason of insanity in the fatal stabbing of Brown's son, Harrison. Lori Brown filed a lawsuit against White and his family and received a confidential settlement. [RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

The families of the victim and the attacker in an unprovoked fatal stabbing at the University of Texas two years ago have reached a settlement in a lawsuit accusing the assailant’s family of failing to address their son’s erratic behavior in the days leading up to the incident.

Lori Brown, mother of slain student Harrison Brown, brought forward the suit in May asking a Travis County state judge to hold the parents of killer Kendrex White legally responsible for driving their son back to school even though he was still unwell after a nine-day stay at a mental health facility in April 2017.

The criminal case concluded in December 2018 when White was found not guilty by reason of insanity after two doctors who evaluated him for mental health disorders asserted he was suffering from a severe psychotic breakdown and could not discern right from wrong when he attacked Brown and three other unsuspecting students. White, who said he thought he was Jesus in an interview with Austin police, was confined to a state mental health facility for an indefinite stay.

White, who was in his third year studying biology at the time of the assault, was also named in the lawsuit.

Court records in the District Court show the settlement between the families was reached in September and came weeks after state District Judge Karin Crump denied a motion from the Whites to toss out the claims against them.

The amount of money Lori Brown received from the Whites is confidential per an agreement the families reached through their lawyers.

“It was not about money, but the fact they were found to be responsible is a victory for Harrison,” Lori Brown said Wednesday. “I know that he would be proud. I know my husband would be proud. I knew there was a possibility that it may not go anywhere, but I was willing to take that chance because I had to do everything I could in my power for Harrison.”

Lori Brown’s husband, Kurt, died five weeks after Harrison following a long battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. The couple lived in Graham, about 90 miles from Fort Worth, where Lori still resides and is a schoolteacher. Lori’s other son, John, is expecting a boy in February with his wife, and they intend to name him Harrison.

Initially, Lori Brown’s lawsuit also named four doctors in Austin and Killeen who treated White for mental health issues in the weeks before the stabbing, as well as health care providers AdventHealth Central Texas and Ascension Seton. However, she ended up dropping that portion of the lawsuit. Her attorney, Sean Breen, noted that Texas malpractice laws present significant hurdles in bringing claims against physicians by someone who is not a patient.

Thus, Breen said, the Whites would have a stronger case against the doctors and hospitals who treated their son than Lori Brown did.

Breen added that the case offers two lessons.

“As citizens of Texas, there are major holes and cracks in our mental health system, and we need to get those fixed because they can be deadly,” he said. “Secondly, when you’re in a special relationship with a person with mental illness you have a duty to act, to protect other people.”

The attorney for the Whites, Robert Scheihing, did not return a message Wednesday seeking comment.