WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — The case involving an inmate who died while in the custody of the Walker County Sheriff’s Office is moving forward with a new order.

On Thursday, Judge Annemarie Carney Axon issued an order denying a motion from the defense team representing Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith and others to halt depositions in some of the court proceedings, pending an outcome of state and federal investigations.

Smith, as well as several jail employees, are being sued by the family of Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, who died at a hospital hours after he was taken from the Walker County Jail on Jan. 27. Mitchell’s family claims that Anthony, who had been in the jail since Jan. 12 for allegedly firing a gun at deputies, had been denied water for 70 hours before his death and that he was kept in frigid conditions within the jail.

Despite law enforcement claiming Mitchell was awake and alert when he was being taken from the jail, a video received by CBS 42 showed him being carried by two deputies, seemingly limp and with his head leaning back.

“And at the hearing, plaintiff’s counsel stated, without disagreement from defense counsel, that depositions would not take place until several months from now at the earliest,” Axon wrote in her order. “Accordingly, at this point it would be premature to rule on whether requiring the individual defendants to sit for depositions would compel an adverse judgment against them.”

With the latest order, the case continues to move forward.

You can read the full order here: