Filmmaker Tyler Perry announced plans to hire a pathologist to perform a second autopsy on his nephew, who died in an apparent suicide this week.
The “Madea” star broke his silence on his nephew’s passing Tuesday in a statement posted to Instagram, voicing suspicion about the circumstances leading to his loved one’s death.
Brian Porter was found hanging inside his cell at a Union Parish jail just after 8:30 p.m. last Tuesday. Porter, 26, was a state Department of Corrections inmate serving a 20-year sentence for the shooting death of his father in 2016, local station WAFB reported.
He was originally charged with second-degree murder in the incident but pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charged the following year.
The sheriff’s office said there’s no sign of foul play, but Perry isn’t so sure. The actor voiced his distrust of the criminal justice system he described as “notorious for cover ups and/or getting it wrong” and said he’d hired a pathologist to do a second autopsy.
The results are expected soon, he said.
“I want to be clear that we’re not a family of conspiracy theorists,” Perry added. “And we want to believe there was no foul play, just as the sheriff has stated publicly.”
In his message, the actor said he hoped the family could reconcile once Porter had served his time.
“Call me naive, but it was my hope that after serving his time, and really reflecting, showing much remorse, and asking God for forgiveness, that he would have been able to come work for me,” he wrote. “Where he would join all the other former inmates that work for me and turn his life around, just as they have. But that day will never come.”
The 26-year-old had been moved to a separate cell Saturday after getting in a fight involving several other inmates, according to The News-Star. He took his life just a few days later.
Perry and his family are requesting privacy at this time.
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