In September, Watson filed a suit, along with the Southern Center for Human Rights, on behalf of Barksdale’s mother Mary, who lives in Athens, seeking incident reports and other prison documents in Barksdale’s case. The suit names DOC Commissioner Richard Allen as defendant.

The DOC filed a motion in October to dismiss, largely on the grounds that state agencies are immune from lawsuits and that opening documents in a criminal investigation to the public could hamper law enforcement.

On Oct. 31, Alabama Attorney General Troy King filed a seven-page brief and several supporting documents in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The brief supports Allen’s motion to dismiss, saying, “The attorney general, as the chief law enforcement officer of the state, is very interested in preserving the confidentiality of investigative files of law enforcement agencies” and that a decision in favor of making the records public “could open the door for the compromising of criminal investigations…”

Watson said conflicting accounts by DOC officials — most recently the report that no trauma was found on Barksdale’s body — raise questions that can only be answered by reviewing documents in the case.

“This just makes me believe more and more that they need to make their investigation open to the public,” Watson said Wednesday. “If they have nothing to hide, then show us their entire investigation. It raises questions about what other unintentional mistakes they may have made — or whether they were intentional.”

Watson said he also learned Barksdale was packed in ice when he left the prison for the hospital, presumably to treat the hyperthermia.

Alabama prisons are not air conditioned and Barksdale arrived at the prison during a heat wave when temperatures were above 100 degrees outdoors. Large fans are used to cool inmates, a DOC official said previously.

The autopsy report said that when he arrived at the hospital, Barksdale was suffering from hyperthermia, bronchopneumonia, coagulopathy (a blood-clotting disorder), upper gastrointestinal bleeding, a breakdown of muscle tissues and an altered mental state.