Messer, ADA Y

Tenure Summary

What happened on their watch

Among the homicides documented during her tenure:

• Jerry L. Brown, 61, died on November 12, 2020 from stab wounds to the head and blunt‑force injury to the face, per the AJC investigation.
• David Lamar Henegar, 44, was killed on October 16, 2021 by manual strangulation and blunt‑force trauma to the head. The AJC reports that a lawsuit alleges Henegar, who had a disability, was choked over the course of hours by his mentally‑ill cellmate while neighboring prisoners screamed for help and officers failed to intervene. The same lawsuit claims prison officials kept Henegar in custody past his scheduled release date, exposing him to the attack. A $4 million settlement was reached in April 2026.
• Michael Todd Page, 53, died June 29, 2023, and his death was ruled a homicide (AJC).
• Donald Prescott Lee, 41, died November 16, 2023 from blunt‑force trauma to the head, neck, and torso (AJC).
• Kenneth Adam Robinson, 50, died August 10, 2024; incident‑report data listed the cause as homicide (AJC).
• Paul Russell Brewster, 48, died June 9, 2025 in a reported homicide (GPS notes).
• Justin Brandon Hulett, 38, died February 12, 2025; a death investigation was opened, and an obituary confirms his death at Johnson SP (GPS research).
• Michael Elias Peschel, 36, died March 14, 2026 after receiving 20 stab wounds from a cellmate who, according to the death report, “should have been housed alone.”
• Phillip Lamar Byrd, 46, died January 18, 2026; inmate reports relayed through Telegram allege he was beaten, locked outside in the cold, forced to call his family for money, and then injected with drugs until he overdosed — all attributed to gang members inside the prison.
• Kevin Kosturi, 29, died December 13, 2024; his obituary lists Johnson SP (GPS research).
• Martrese Jamon McKay, 30, died April 18, 2026. Initial reports suggested suicide, but an AI‑classified Telegram relay notes that the person “collapsed suddenly (‘just dropped dead’), contradicting the suicide theory.” The cause remains under investigation.

Beyond the deaths, systemic deficiencies at the facility drew official notice. In December 2023, Johnson State Prison failed a food‑safety inspection with a score of 64 out of 100; inspectors documented rats, roaches, broken kitchen equipment, and contaminated trays. In April 2026, multiple reports surfaced of contaminated food trays causing illness; the dishwashing infrastructure had degraded, forcing a manual chemical‑dunk process.

No other GDC facility is recorded under Messer’s leadership, and none of the earlier procurement positions (2015‑2017) are tied to any facility‑level accountability.

Litigation

• Wade v. Morgan, No. 3:23‑cv‑00073 (S.D. Ga., filed Aug. 31, 2023). This is the civil suit brought by the family of David Henegar against corrections officers and a prison manager. The state settled the case for $4 million in April 2026.
• In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation, No. 1:20‑md‑02974 (N.D. Ga., filed Dec. 16, 2020). A multidistrict litigation concerning a medical device; court records list Messer as a defendant, though the case has no apparent connection to her corrections role.

Sources

• Atlanta Journal‑Constitution — multiple homicide reports and coverage of the Henegar lawsuit and settlement (2020‑2026)
• GPS intelligence records — death logs, facility event logs, and Telegram‑relayed inmate reports
• CourtListener — dockets for Wade v. Morgan and In Re Paragard IUD Products Liability Litigation
• Georgia Department of Corrections/GDC data — automated population of death records
• Low Country Cremation obituary (Kevin Kosturi) and Smalls Funeral Home obituary (Justin B. Hulett) — GPS research notes
• 13WMAZ — death investigation report (Hulett)

Synthesized by GPS Intelligence System on Jun 7, 2026 from positions, attributed deaths, lawsuits, intel reports, and news mentions in the public corpus. The supporting data tables follow below.