Vanessa Timmons holds a photo of her uncle, Arther McAfee Jr., who was shot and killed in January 2018 by a Harrison County Deputy performing a welfare check. (Longview News-Journal File Photo)

MARSHALL — A former Harrison County sheriff’s deputy has been absolved of wrongdoing after a federal jury in Marshall ruled that he was justified in using excessive force during a January 2018 welfare check that resulted in the death of a 61-year-old veteran.

The jury determined that the estate of Arther McAfee Jr. did not prove that Jeff McAndrews used excessive force in violation of McAfee’s constitutional rights. As a result, Judge Roy S. Payne dismissed the civil lawsuit against McAndrews and Harrison County.

In addition to the excessive force claim, the plaintiffs also alleged that Harrison County and its policymaker, specifically the county judge at that time, Hugh Taylor, sheriff at that time, Tom McCool, and county commissioners delegated with authority for setting policies, including training of the sheriff’s office, had a duty, but failed to properly supervise, screen, discipline, implement and/or enforce policies, practices and procedures for the sheriff’s office that respected McAfee’s constitutional rights to protection.

Attorneys for McAfee’s family expressed disappointment in the jury’s verdict.

“Mr. McAfee was a 61-year-old veteran suffering from a mental illness. He served his country in the military and was murdered in his own home by a sheriff deputy doing a welfare check,” said co-counsel Benjamin Taylor.

The defense maintained that the sheriff’s deputy acted in defense of himself and McAfee’s sister, who was attacked by McAfee during the welfare check.

The plaintiffs argued that McAfee didn’t pose an imminent threat at the time he was shot.

“The family is grieving and wants justice to be served,” Taylor said. “Mr. McAfee was a kind man who loved his family.

“Unfortunately, no one on the jury looked like Mr. McAfee,” Taylor said, referring to the lack of minorities. “This plays a key role in getting a fair trial for a person who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in December 2018 by McAfee’s sister and witness to the shooting, Lorine McAfee, who has since died. Because of that, Laveria Harper, McAfee’s other sister, is now serving as representative of her brother’s estate and on behalf of Lorine.

Ollie Holman, also McAfee’s sister, previously said she called the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 20, 2018, to check on her brother after she couldn’t reach him by phone.

“When I called 911, I said, ‘He has a mental (disability),’ “ Holman said the day of the shooting, the News-Journal previously reported. Lorine McAfee, who lives next door to her brother’s home near Longview, said she let McAndrews into the house when he arrived alone about 10:30 a.m. that day.

She said McAndrews called her brother’s name, and Arther McAfee emerged from his bedroom unarmed but swinging his fists.

The deputy brought McAfee down in his hall with a stun gun, she said, adding she held his legs as the deputy tried to handcuff her brother.

“He tried to turn (my brother) onto his belly,” she said at the time. “The cop unsnapped his gun and shot him two times. He was on the floor.”

McAfee was pronounced dead in a Longview hospital within hours of his shooting.