While the city of Charlotte announced Thursday that it had settled the lawsuit over the shooting death of Jonathan Ferrell, the criminal trial against the police officer accused of the killing still looms.
As does this question: Will the $2.25 million the city agreed to pay Ferrell’s family influence the jurors deciding the manslaughter case against Officer Randall Kerrick?
“Even though there is no admission of liability by the city, the common perception will be that that they wouldn’t have paid this amount of money if they haven’t had some responsibility,” said James Wyatt, a prominent Charlotte defense attorney not connected to the case.
Attorneys for the family of Jonathan Ferrell held a press conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday January 14, 2014 in the South Park law offices of Charles G. Monnett and Associates. Ferrell’s mother, Georgia Ferrell and his brother, Willie Ferrell (standing), attended along with attorneys Monnett (left) and Chris Chestnut (right).
Any mention of the agreement likely won’t be admissible during the criminal trial, Wyatt said. But most of Kerrick’s potential jurors almost certainly will know about it going in.
In announcing the settlement, Mayor Dan Clodfelter, an attorney, mostly sidestepped its impact on the criminal proceedings, which could put the city under a national spotlight when the trial begins July 20.
For now, Clodfelter said, the city should be thankful it has avoided the violent reactions to police killings in Baltimore, Ferguson, Mo., and other cities.
“Things could have happened differently,” the mayor said. “Instead the events surrounding the case prompted an open, candid and wide-ranging community dialogue about difficult issues.”
Kerrick’s attorneys, however, attacked the settlement, describing it as the latest evidence of the city’s “rush to judgment,” which started with their client’s arrest for a crime he did not commit.
“True justice in this case will come in the form of an acquittal after twelve impartial jurors are selected, hear evidence, deliberate and decide what we have stated countless times from the onset of this case – that Officer Kerrick’s shooting of Jonathan Ferrell, while tragic, was justified,” attorneys George Laughrun and Michael Greene said in a statement.
Charles Monnett, the Charlotte attorney for the Ferrell family in the lawsuit, told the Observer that it is hard to predict how Thursday’s announcement will affect the trial – if at all.
“But I think it’s pretty clear that the city recognized that what happened should never have happened and that the use of deadly force was not justified,” Monnett said. “I’m proud of what they did. … They recognized the value of a life.”
The settlement – which was unanimously approved by the City Council in closed session – shields Kerrick, the city and the police from any further civil suit or penalty. It comes after three months of mediation, beginning with a Feb. 16 meeting between Georgia and Willie Ferrell, Jonathan Ferrell’s mother and brother, Clodfelter, police Chief Rodney Monroe, City Attorney Bob Hagemann and Mayor Pro Tem Michael Barnes.
“Georgia [Ferrell] and Chief Monroe had a particularly meaningful dialogue. Everybody respected Georgia and respected her loss,” said Monnett, who also was on hand.
The money, which will be mostly paid from a city fund to cover legal settlements, should be in the family’s hands “in a matter of days,” Hagemann said. “While we realize that money is an inadequate means of compensating Mr. Ferrell’s family, we feel that this was a fair and equitable settlement.”
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