Update — Tuesday, Sept. 8:
In a nine minute meeting, the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners approved a $20 million settlement in the lawsuit regarding Shannon Hanchett's 2022 death in the Cleveland County Detention Center.
In a 2-1 vote, the Cleveland County commissioners approved a $20 million settlement for the death of "Cookie Queen" Shannon Hanchett.
The item passed 2-1 with Rod Cleveland, district 1 county commissioner, voting against at the board's regular meeting. Jacob McHughes, district 2 county commissioner, and Rusty Grissom, district 3 county commissioner, voted in favor.
The resolution states the payment is not an admission of guilt or liability by the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, and that the county will explore additional funding methods to minimize increased property taxes. According to the county’s calculation, the property tax rate to pay the annual total comes out to about $1.92 per $1,000 taxable value.
Information and example of the effect the $20 million settlement will have on property taxes.
“The loss of Ms. Hanchett created a potentially large legal exposure. Top-tier attorneys who specialize in this work recommended a settlement … , as a settlement is in the best interest of the county based on the current landscape of civil rights litigation, as well as recent verdicts and settlements nationwide,” McHughes said, reading a statement on his and Grissom’s behalf.
Cleveland disagreed, noting the effect the settlement will have on taxpayers.
“Shannon Hanchett’s death was a tragedy. I am sorry for her children and her family. That does not make a $20 million settlement the right decision for Cleveland County,” Cleveland said. “County commissioners do not run the jail. The sheriff does…This Board’s duty is to assess risk and defend the county in court…A settlement immediately and permanently shifts the full cost of taxpayers. A jury verdict does not.”
Of the total settlement, $2 million will be paid within 60 days by the county's liability insurance provider, The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company, with the remainder paid by the county at a 3.98% interest rate. According to a calculation provided by the board, the county will pay an annual total of $6.7 million.
The settlement applies only to the county and will not include other defendants in the case, meaning claims against former detention center medical provider TK Health — founded by attorney general candidate Jon Echols — and the individual medical staff named in the suit continue separately.
Read our original reporting below.
Nearly four years after her death in the Cleveland County Detention Center, Shannon Hanchett’s husband Daniel Hanchett could receive $20 million in a settlement with the county.
The Cleveland County commissioners will consider the settlement at 1 p.m. Tuesday under some conditions — one being that the payment is not an admission of guilt or liability on behalf of the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office.
The sum was initially approved by the commissioners Aug. 10 after the parties entered into a tentative agreement Aug. 4. The settlement agreement would not apply to defendants in the case other than the county.
Of the $20 million, $2 million would be paid within 60 days by the county’s liability insurance provider — The Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company — with the remainder paid by the county. The payments would be made in three installments — one a year beginning in 2027 and ending in 2029 — with an interest rate of 3.98% each year.
The resolution states the county would explore additional methods of funding to minimize increased property taxes.
Background
Daniel Hanchett filed the lawsuit in January 2024 against the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, TK Health — the detention center’s former health care provider, known then as Turn Key Health Clinics — and three medical professionals who cared for Shannon Hanchett in the nearly two weeks leading up to her death. The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2024, but Daniel Hanchett later filed an amended complaint.
The complaint seeks to hold Cleveland County officials and TK Health liable for unconstitutional living conditions and deliberate indifference, Daniel Hanchett’s attorney said after the complaint was amended. His attorney, Daniel Smolen, claimed that financial incentives and a lack of staff training contributed to several deaths of mentally ill detainees at jails staffed by TK Health personnel over the past decade.
“She was treated in a truly inhumane way,” Smolen said. “(The video footage) really shows how preventable her death was.”
Shannon Hanchett’s death is one in a string of deaths at the detention center in recent years, with the most recent one being the death of Matthew Alexander Willbanks last month.
Former Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason, who resigned in April after pleading no contest to one felony count of embezzlement, was in the position at the time of Shannon Hanchett’s death. Sheriff Darrell Weaver filled the role in July.
Weaver spoke about past deaths in the facility in an interview with OU Daily in July.
“There's unfortunate deaths in there, and we're going to try to dissect. And that was before my time. I wasn't there, but I realize the responsibility now, it is my time, and I shoulder that,” Weaver said. “And we're going to do everything we can to keep everyone in that facility safe. And my family's from a healthcare background, and I know how important that is — health to anybody — I don't care if you're an inmate or employee. We want to make sure that it's done right and properly.”
Shannon Hanchett, who was 38 at the time of her death, ran a bakery in downtown Norman and was known as the Cookie Queen. She started baking while she attended Pauls Valley High School and continued as she moved to Norman to attend OU.
A Norman police officer arrested her at an AT&T store on Nov. 26, 2022, on a complaint of misdemeanor obstruction and false reporting.
While the officer noted in their arrest report that Hanchett was exhibiting signs of mental illness, they took her to the Cleveland County Detention Center. Her family opted not to post her $1,000 bond because they feared that she might be a danger to herself or others, according to an investigation by The Marshall Project and The Frontier.
Referencing closed-circuit video footage that remains shielded from the public under a federal protective order, the 73-page filing details Hanchett’s deteriorating mental and physical health as jail staff refused to provide care.
Jail staff discovered Hanchett unresponsive just after midnight on Dec. 8, less than eight hours before she was scheduled for a court-ordered mental health evaluation, according to the lawsuit. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A state medical examiner’s report ruled the cause of death as heart failure with psychosis and severe dehydration as significant contributing factors.
Read more:
This story was edited by Macey Thaxton.
