VALDOSTA — The family of Kendrick “K.J.” Johnson has lost an appeal against a court order to pay attorney’s fees in the long-running death case.

In August, his family was ordered to pay $300,000 and expenses associated with lawsuits they filed accusing multiple individuals of causing and covering up their son’s death. The body of Kendrick Johnson was found upside down in a vertically stored gym mat at Lowndes High School in January 2013.

A state autopsy ruled the 17-year-old’s death accidental. The Johnson family insists their son died of foul play.

On March 21, Superior Court Senior Judge J. Richard Porter III denied an appeal by Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson, KJ’s parents, against the order to pay.

Defendants in the case, including former Sheriff Chris Prine, had filed a motion to dismiss appeals, and Porter, in his ruling, said the Johnsons had failed to respond to the motion, file transcripts or prepare records so appeals could proceed.

In the course of multiple lawsuits on the state and federal levels, the Johnsons contended their son was killed by the sons of an FBI agent and his death was covered up by a vast conspiracy. They named dozens of individuals in their lawsuits, 

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice ended a federal probe into KJ’s death, saying they found no evidence any federal laws had been broken. A federal investigation cleared both of the FBI agent’s sons, while Kenneth Johnson admitted in court in 2016 he had no evidence the two brothers were involved in his son’s death.