Here's why the city of Dallas wasn't held liable in the Botham Jean shooting
DALLAS - A Dallas appellate attorney says he is not surprised at the award handed down in the wrongful death civil trial of former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger.
It was a record number for a case where a police officer — off duty, but in uniform — killed an innocent man, Botham Jean.
Appellate attorney Thad Spalding says he’s not surprised at Wednesday’s $98.6 million judgment for the Jean family in the wrongful death lawsuit against Guyger.
"I think it's a very natural reaction to what the facts they were presented with," he said.
The family was awarded $38.6 million in compensatory damages and $60 million in punitive damages.
"It's hard to quantify the loss of a loved one," Spalding said. "And so the way this law works is we put this in the hands of the jurors who get to hear the witnesses, get to hear the family members and decide based on that testimony."
Family attorney Daryl K. Washington said the city should share in liability with Guyger, but the city filed a motion to be removed from the lawsuit, which was granted.
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Botham Jean posed no threat to Amber Guyger at time of shooting, expert testifies
A crime scene reconstruction expert testified that Botham Jean posed no threat to Amber Guyger when he was shot.
"The city of Dallas hired Amber Guyger. The city of Dallas was responsible for training Amber Guyger on the night that Botham was killed," Washington said. "The city of Dallas, the police officers protected Amber Guyger. And yet when you have a situation like this, they kick police officers under the bus, and they run away from the liability."
A U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1978 called Monell Liability keeps municipalities, in many instances, from exposure in these kinds of excessive force civil rights violation cases.
"What the U.S. Supreme Court said under the civil rights statute that this case was brought under is that a city is not responsible in that same way for its officers’ conduct," Spalding said.
So while Guyger was considered acting as a police officer, although off duty when she fatally shot Jean in his own apartment, the city has no financial responsibility for her actions.
Botham Jean's family, lawyers speak after ruling: FULL
Botham Jean's parents and lawyers speak after a jury awarded them $98.6 million in the civil wrongful death suit against former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. Guyger shot and killed Jean in his apartment in 2018. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his murder.
"In any other scenario, if you're driving a truck for a company, and you crash into somebody, and you're negligent when you do that, you're acting within the scope of your employment," said Spalding. "And so your employer is responsible."
Spalding has appeared before the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court in Monell Liability cases. He says in order to win against Monell Liability, you have to prove one thing.
"It essentially requires that incidents like this have happened multiple times in the past, that the city was aware of these incidents having happened, and that they didn't do anything about it," he explained. "It’s what's called ‘deliberate indifference.’"
For Jean's family and others, it’s a high bar to cross, which is why, more times than not, cities are dismissed from these types of lawsuits.