“A King County jury [last week] awarded a Somali refugee $8.8 million, finding that negligence by state social workers contributed to a savage assault by a gang of teenagers living in a West Seattle foster home.” Attorney Jack Connelly, representing beating victim Aba Sheikh, said the state Department of Social and Health Services should have moved two delinquent teenagers from foster care to more restrictive and closely supervised custodial settings. “Assistant Attorney General Jeff Freimund said yesterday the verdict puts social workers in an untenable position — complying with laws that require foster kids be put in the least restrictive, most ‘family-like’ setting possible, while being held responsible if the children exploit their freedom and commit crimes.” DSHS officials called the ruling an “unprecedented” expansion of state liability and said if it is sustained the department “will have to institute extraordinary new constraints on children in foster care, interfering with their growth into successful citizens.” “Aba Sheikh also will be paid $300,000 by Shell Oil, because the attack occurred at a gas station franchised by the company”. (“Jury faults DSHS for attack by foster kids”, Seattle Times, Nov. 18). For another case in which attorney Connelly made the state of Washington pay dearly for imposing insufficiently custodial conditions on persons under its authority, see Sept. 13-14, 2000 (auto accident by convict serving community-supervision portion of sentence)(& letter to the editor, Dec. 6). Update Apr. 16, 2006: state’s high court overturns verdict.
Posts Tagged ‘crime and punishment’
Phony class action nabs alleged murderer
See? Class actions do have social value! Seattle police tied a suspect to a murder by sending him a solicitation to obtain money in a class action over parking tickets–thus obtaining DNA from saliva on the return envelope. The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers asked unsuccessfully for the evidence to be thrown out. (Tracy Johnson, “Judge upholds police trickery”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 18; Christine Clarridge, “Ruse police used to get DNA was legal, judge declares”, Seattle Times, Nov. 18; Tracy Johnson, “Police ruse illegal, lawyer says”, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 25; Richard Willing, “Police dupe suspects into giving up DNA”, USA Today, Sep. 10; AP, May 30). (via Daily Legal Newswire)
Australia: his revenge on society
In one of Australia’s most notorious mass murders, Julian Knight shot dead seven people and wounded 19 others in Hoddle Street, Melbourne in 1987. Knight was committed to prison where he developed into an inveterate filer of legal complaints which “have cost the Justice Department about [A]$250,000 in staff time and external legal expenses in the past two years alone”, having pursued over that period 28 appeals as well as numerous freedom of information requests. (Ian Munro, “Hoddle Street mass killer faces court curb”, Melbourne Age, Nov. 10).
Overcriminalized.com
Not related to this website despite its name, Overcriminalized.com is a new site from the Heritage Foundation “devoted to challenging and ultimately reversing the harmful trend by government to criminalize more and more ordinary activities.” Among the case histories presented: Palo Alto v. Leibrand, in which a 61-year-old homeowner was fingerprinted and booked (complete with mug shot) on charges of letting the street-side xylosma bushes near her bungalow grow more than two feet high (her site); and cases of alleged federal overzealousness in enforcing the False Claims Act (U.S. v. Krizek, alleged overbilling by psychotherapist); and environmental law (Hansen v. U.S., manager of bankrupt chemical plant sentenced to 46 months despite critics’ questions as to both mens rea and his practical capability to rectify the various violations). For a sampling of similar themes aired on this site, see Aug. 6 (drowsy driving), Jul. 22 (corporation’s vicarious criminal liability for acts of employees and agents), Jul. 14 (U.K. seaweed-picking); May 14 (sexual harassment); Aug. 3-5, 2001 (cloned human cells); Dec. 8-10, 2000 (gun sale); Oct. 20-22, 2000 (product liability); May 18-21, 2000 (public morality laws) and Dec. 20 and Aug. 2, 1999 (injury to animals). Plus: Tim Sandefur (Oct. 28) has more, including pointers to an earlier Heritage memo on the subject (Paul Rosenzweig, “The Over-Criminalization of Social and Economic Conduct”, Apr. 17) and commentaries by Tyler Cowen (Oct. 21) and himself (Oct. 16).
Dark highlights, courtesy Oz legal aid
Australia: “An application by Victorian triple murderer Paul Denyer to wear women’s make-up in prison was helped by taxpayer-funded Legal Aid, the state government said today. The 120kg killer, branded one of the most dangerous criminals in Victoria … lodged an appeal with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) after his complaint of gender identity discrimination was rejected by the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) in August.” (“Legal Aid helped make-up bid”, AAP/Melbourne Age, Oct. 15). See update Jan. 10.
Hazards of being under arrest
The city of Greensboro, N.C. says it will probably appeal a jury’s award of $1.5 million to a man who was under arrest in the back of a police car when the officer driving the car slammed on the brakes to avoid an accident. John A. Clayton III filed a lawsuit claiming permanent back injuries; the city unsuccessfully cited the views of doctors that the impact could not have produced the complained-of injuries. (AP/Charlotte Observer, “Man hurt in police car awarded $1.5 million”, Sept. 28; Wilmington Star-News, Sept. 27).
St. Paul police sued
On September 27, 2002, Ki Yang ignored orders to drop a BB gun that resembled a rifle and a sickle-like blade 20 inches long. “Instead, he charged at [officer Michael] Tharalson, who fired six shots as Yang kept advancing.” Now, Yang’s family is suing the city and the police in federal court, arguing that Yang should have been treated differently because the officers knew he was mentally ill. (Her?n M?rquez Estrada, “St. Paul police, city sued in case of mentally ill man shot dead by cops”, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sep. 26).
High-speed chase lawsuit
On May 10, in Branford, Connecticut, Sergeant John Finkle attempts to pull over a BMW that is driving erratically; the driver, Thomas Bishop, later charged with DUI, pulls into a motel parking lot, and then speeds back out. Police say they ended the chase because of bad weather, but at some point before or after that Bishop smashed his car into a van at an intersection (allegedly at 75 mph), killing one and maiming another. Naturally, the lawsuit filed by the family of the victim is against the town, the chief of police, and Sgt. Finkle. (Marissa Yaremich, “Family will sue in fatal car chase”, New Haven Register, Sep. 20; Dave Phillips, “Police facing lawsuit from injured crash victim”, Branford Review, Sep. 20). Even if one accepts the questionable premise that it is the pursuer, rather than the pursued, who should be primarily responsible for such a crash, the fact that criminals will be more likely to engage in high-speed chases that endanger people if police have a policy of stopping pursuit seems not to enter into the equation of the lawsuit or the press coverage of the lawsuit.
$200 K for Moose carding?
Gregg Easterbrook’s new and already indispensable weblog for the New Republic has some harsh words (Sept. 15) for former Montgomery County, Maryland police chief Charles Moose, of sniper-investigation fame. In an episode that has received little press attention, Moose extracted something on the order of $200,000 from the Marriott hotel chain after threatening a race-bias lawsuit over an incident last December in which a guard demanded to see his room key at an exclusive beach in Hawaii (“Top cop in sniper case settles isle bias lawsuit”, AP/Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Aug. 8).
AAA sued over stranded motorist’s murder
In the latest lawsuit seeking to find a large enterprise liable for the murder of a stranded female motorist, the survivors of Melissa Gosule are beginning a trial against the AAA auto club over the dilatory way in which it set about rescuing her after her car broke down on Cape Cod in 1999. Ms. Gosule instead accepted a ride from a stranger who turned out to have a long criminal record, and who murdered her. “Every year, the American Automobile Association, with a dues-paying membership of more than 46 million in the United States and Canada, gets about 30 million calls from motorists who need help with dead batteries, flat tires and other roadside problems.” (Denise Lavoie, “Auto club goes on trial over slaying of motorist”, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 8). Last month (see Aug. 9) the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the family of Amy Stahlecker could not sue the Ford and Firestone companies after a tire blowout left her stranded at the side of the road, where she was picked up and murdered by a stranger. Update Sept. 14: AAA case settles.