Investigative Staff
DATELINE: MADISONVILLE, TN — February 17, 2026
The "bus" has arrived in Monroe County, and it’s being driven by the very entities Sheriff Tommy Jones once called partners. The federal courtroom in Knoxville is about to become a high-stakes arena of "finger-pointing." Because Monroe County’s $1.9 million settlement effectively removes (for now) the "entity" from the line of fire, the remaining defendants—Madisonville PD and TK Health—are incentivized to treat Sheriff Jones as the primary architect of the disaster to save themselves from punitive damages. By paying $1.9 million, Monroe County essentially admitted that a jury would likely find their Policies and Customs were "deliberately indifferent."
Under Tennessee law, Tennessee Code § 29-11-107, a jury can apportion fault to a "nonparty" (like the now-settled County) to reduce the bill for the remaining defendants. This means that at trial in federal court, the lawyers for the nurses and the city officers won't just be defending their own actions—they will be acting as prosecutors against the Sheriff. * The Goal: If they can convince a jury that 90% of the fault lies with the Sheriff’s "customs and policies," their clients only pay 10% of the damages. The $1.9 million settlement is a massive hit, but for the taxpayers of Monroe County, the bill is likely far from over. While the insurance company technically "pays" the settlement, the county faces a trio of rising costs that could impact the local budget for years.
In 2026, as the county commissioners debate the millage rate, the "Isbill Surcharge" will be the elephant in the room. Every dollar spent on insurance hikes and legal defenses for the Sheriff’s "stunts" is a dollar that isn't going to Monroe County schools, roads, or EMS services.
The tactics used in the "Kensinger Bluff" now appear as a blueprint for the Isbill tragedy. When the Knox County Regional Forensic Center reclassified Lester Isbill’s death as a homicide—citing dehydration and prolonged restraint—Sheriff Jones didn't just disagree; he went on the offensive. In any "Pattern and Practice" lawsuit (like the Isbill case), an attorney looks for times when a department ignored expert medical advice.
Just as deputies allegedly ignored medical protocols during the 9.5-hour restraint of Lester Isbill, they ignored the EMS protocol for Alijah Kensinger. For years, the story of Alijah Kensinger’s recovery was told as a triumph of Monroe County law enforcement. But a darker narrative has emerged from the halls of the EMS department. EMS Director Randy White broke the silence with a revelation that strikes at the core of the Sheriff’s credibility.
According to White, when 6-year-old Alijah was found in January 2022, he issued a direct medical order: EMS was to perform the recovery and immediate wellness check. That order was ignored. Instead, the child was allegedly kept "off the books" for 17 hours while a global Amber Alert remained active—a move critics say was designed to ensure the Sheriff could lead the morning news cycle with a staged, daytime-photo shoot "live" rescue.
"They locked the door," a source familiar with the incident stated. Not only was the medical recovery bypassed, but EMS was reportedly barred from the post-incident debriefing—a move that legal experts say violates the National Incident Management System (NIMS) statutes passed after 9/11 to ensure inter-agency transparency.
Just as deputies allegedly ignored medical protocols during the 9.5-hour restraint of Lester Isbill, they ignored the EMS protocol for Alijah Kensinger.
In a move described by national legal analysts as "unprecedented," Jones reportedly "grilled" the Medical Examiner, Dr. Suzuki, in a recorded exchange later posted online. It was a digital "stunt" designed to discredit the science. But in federal court, that stunt has become a liability.
Lawyers for TK Partners Health (headquartered in Oklahoma City) and the City of Madisonville are already sharpening their cross-examination.
Their argument is simple: Their staff didn't fail Lester Isbill; they were operating in a "culture of intimidation" created by the Sheriff.
"How can a nurse exercise medical judgment," one legal summary suggests, "when the Sheriff publicly humiliates or ignores any expert who disagrees with his narrative?"
By settling the Monell claims, the County has left Jones without a shield. He will now sit in a federal deposition chair not as a defendant protected by county lawyers, but as a witness who must explain why he ignored medical orders in 2022 and tried to rewrite medical findings in 2025.
In federal civil rights litigation, the most potent weapon against a public official is not always the evidence of the crime itself, but the evidence that they have a "Custom of Deceit."
For Sheriff Jones, the 17-Hour Bluff and the Medical Examiner (ME) Grilling create a "Double-Bind" that makes a successful defense nearly impossible. At the heart of this legal storm lies a "pattern of practice" that critics say prioritizes political optics over human lives.
If Randy White’s order was given within his official capacity during an active emergency search, ignoring that order could be framed as a violation of TN Code § 39-16-402 (Official Misconduct) or Obstruction.
