The death last year of a Walker County jail inmate was a homicide caused by medical neglect, according to the county coroner’s autopsy report posted online Thursday by advocates of Anthony “Tony” Mitchell.

Mitchell, 33, died Jan. 26, 2023 at Walker Baptist Medical Center, just over two weeks after he was arrested on charges that he fired on Walker County deputies as they responded to a welfare check requested by his family.

Walker County Coroner Joey Vick confirmed the authenticity of the autopsy report posted Thursday on the Facebook group Justice for Tony Mitchell.

“Yes, this is the death [certification] that we signed,” Vick told AL.com Thursday night.

The documents, which showed they were filed on Feb. 1, 2023, listed Mitchell’s manner of death as homicide and listed the causes as hypothermia and sepsis “resulting from infected injuries obtained during incarceration and medical neglect.”

Mitchell’s manner of death would be a factor in determining whether any criminal charges would be filed.

Lawyers for Mitchell’s mother, Margaret Mitchell, filed a federal lawsuit in March 2023, claiming that jail deputies tased Mitchell and locked him in a freezer, causing his death.

Jon Goldfarb, the lead attorney representing Margaret Mitchell, could not immediately be reached for comment on the autopsy.

The lawsuit alleges abuse and medical neglect of Mitchell at the hands of Sheriff Nick Smith and staff at the county jail, including corrections officers, nurses and an investigator.

A response to the lawsuit filed by jail nurses disputed Mitchell’s family’s claims that he was locked in a freezer.

Attorneys for the sheriff’s office also said Mitchell was never placed in a freezer, and asked that the allegation be removed from the lawsuit.

“He was not held in a freezer,’’ the document stated. “In fact, the only times that he left the booking area was to attend his 72-hour hearing and to be transported to the hospital.”

“This case embodies the adage, ‘A lie is halfway around the world before the truth can put on its boots,’’’ lawyers wrote.

Mitchell family attorneys responded by saying the claim was mischaracterized.

They said the claim about the freezer was not definite, but rather a likely possible explanation for Mitchell’s death and that a physician they interviewed for the case told them as much.

“If defendants had another means of bringing an inmates’ body temp. to 72 degrees or lower, plaintiff will uncover that during the discovery phase of this case,” the family’s lawyers argued.