Prosecutors decline to press charges in Nex Benedict death in Oklahoma

Prosecutors announced Thursday they will not file criminal charges in connection with the death of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary student who died a day after a fight last month at a high school in suburban Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler released a statement saying that after reviewing the Owasso police’s investigation into the 16-year-old’s death on Feb. 8 and the Oklahoma medical examiner’s attribution of the death to suicide, he did not feel charges were warranted.

Neither of the reports has been publicly released.

Kunzweiler said police did not believe charges should be filed and that he agreed.

The death of the Oklahoma sophomore, who used they/them pronouns and had told family they were bullied, sparked national outrage, particularly from LGBTQ advocacy groups. One of the groups complained to the U.S. Department of Education, which is now investigating allegations of discrimination and sex-based harassment in violation of federal law at Owasso High.

The Human Rights Campaign also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate in the wake of Nex’s death, but it has yet to intervene. Kelley Robinson, the organization’s president, on Thursday repeated the group’s demand for an independent investigation into the teen’s death.

“Nex was failed by their school, and failed by every elected official who allowed a culture of bullying and harassment to grow unchecked,” Robinson said, demanding “a full and complete investigation” into the district, the state department of education and “the response after Nex was attacked.”

“We won’t stop until there is justice for Nex and for all kids – in Oklahoma and beyond,” she said.

Kunzweiler, a Republican, did not mention in his statement that Benedict was nonbinary or acknowledge anti-LGBTQ+ bullying. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), the state’s superintendent of education Ryan Walters and several lawmakers have championed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and policies. More than 50 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in the state legislature this year, more than any other state, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Kunzweiler’s use of the student’s birth name, or “dead name,” at the start of his statement drew fire from an LGBTQ advocacy group.

“A statement that deadnames a trans victim as its opening sentence is one that clearly indicates the brand of justice doled out by DA Kunzweiler’s office,” said Nicole McAfee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma.

McAfee said her group was awaiting results of the federal Department of Education investigation. “We deserve the safety to learn here, to thrive here. We deserve truth, transparency, and justice,” McAfee said. “We stand in solidarity with those seeking honest answers to what happened to Nex.”

Jordan Korphage, a spokesman for Owasso Schools, said it had no comment on the district attorney’s decision.

The fight happened Feb. 7. The next morning, the 16-year-old collapsed at home and died within hours at a hospital. Last week, Oklahoma’s medical examiner released a single-page summary of Benedict’s autopsy report, which listed the cause of death as suicide due to a lethal combination of an antidepressant and antihistamine. Benedict’s family has disputed that finding, citing passages from the full autopsy report that noted Benedict suffered head trauma and other injuries.

Kunzweiler wrote in his Thursday statement that police recovered “brief notes, written by Benedict, which appeared to be related to the suicide.”

“Although the notes do not make any reference to the earlier fight or difficulties at school, the parents indicated that Benedict reported being picked upon for various reasons while at school,” he wrote.

Kunzweiler did not quote from the suicide notes, saying the contents are “a personal matter” for the family to address.

The family’s attorney, Jacob Biby, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Kunzweiler’s statement.

“Fighting takes place at schools everyday across this nation,” Kunzweiler wrote. “When I review a report and make a decision to file a charge I must be convinced – as is every prosecutor – that a crime was committed.”

In this case, he wrote, “From all of the evidence gathered, this fight was an instance of mutual combat.”

“I do not have a reasonable belief that the state of Oklahoma could sustain its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt if charges were presented for prosecution,” Kunzweiler wrote.