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Report: Two DISD basketball coaches placed on leave as part of an investigation after beating death of Wilmer-Hutchins player

Dallas Madison head coach Roderick Johnson directs his team as they played Houston Yates...
Dallas Madison head coach Roderick Johnson directs his team as they played Houston Yates during the first half of their boys basketball Class 3A boys basketball state championship game on Saturday, March 8, at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.(Michael Ainsworth - Staff Photographer)
Wilmer-Hutchins boys basketball coach John Burley.
Wilmer-Hutchins boys basketball coach John Burley.(File 2011 - Special to DMN)

WFAA Channel 8 reported Monday night that Madison boys basketball coach Roderick Johnson and Wilmer-Hutchins boys basketball coach John Burley have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Dallas ISD.

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Citing unnamed sources, WFAA reporter Brett Shipp said that computers from each coach's office were confiscated as part of an investigation that started after the March 24 death of Wilmer-Hutchins basketball player Troy Causey, who Dallas police allege was killed by Madison basketball player Johnathan Turner after the two fought.

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The two players lived in the same house, and the WFAA report said that the coaches "knew their players were living in a house apart from their families, a violation of state athletic rules."

Madison won the Class 3A state championship in March.

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Dallas police charged Turner, a 19-year-old senior, with murder in connection with the slaying of Causey, 18, according to a recent Morning News article

Causey died March 24 at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas a day after a severe beating outside his home left him in a coma.

The beating stemmed from an argument about a video game, according to an arrest warrant affidavit that included the account of Willie Hollins, Causey's 18-year-old cousin who lived with the two boys.

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According to the affidavit, investigators were suspicious of Turner and Hollins’ account, and it didn’t match the evidence they found. Causey’s autopsy report said he died from blunt force trauma, not from his head hitting the ground. Blood spatter and other evidence indicated that he was beaten even after he was on the ground.

But authorities were unable to make an arrest until Thursday, when police located a new witness. That person told police that Turner admitted to him that he was involved in the fight and had kicked Causey in the head when he was on the ground. The witness also implicated another person in the attack, but authorities did not identify that person Monday.

They said that there may be additional suspects and that detectives will continue to investigate the case.

Staff writers Matt Wixon and Claire Z. Cardona contributed to this report