O.C. jury gives 'historic' win to Black Lives Matter protestor in lawsuit over attack by L.A. police
mcuniff.substack.com
Deon Jones was protesting the murder of George Floyd by police when Officer Peter Bueno shot him in the face with rubber bullets. The trial was the first for U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter, who is the first Black federal judge in Orange County.
"The conventional wisdom in the local legal community says not necessarily: L.A. juries are generally considered easier on liability but tougher on damage amounts."
Unless the case is decided by an L.A. jury in the court of Federal Judge John F. Walters in a matter involving the widpw of Kobe Bryant.
In that case, Judge Walters will postpone start of trial for 3 weeks with no reason, except targeting Kobe Bryant Day 8/24 for jury deliberations.
Judge Walters will allow co-plaintiff Chris Chester's attorney to inform jury that 8/23 would have been Bryant's 44th birthday.
Judge Walters' will participate with plaintiff Bryant's attorney to provide impromptu testimony.
Plaintiff attorney informed the court that his client was requesting permission to step out of courtroom during proceedings.
Judge Walter granted the request and stated that no request of permission was needed in the future, thus misleading a jury to believe that permission is needed from the Judge for a civil plaintiff observing proceedings to exit before recess is called(its not required), thus leading jury to believe Judge Walter felt that Ms. Bryant's emotional state was so unstable(due to actions committed by defendants) as to warrant granting a blanket permission for duration of trial.
Judge Walter, who previously stated he wanted to split trial into two parts to simplify complex issues for the jury, then provided extremely brief instructions to the Chris Chester/Vanessa Bryant jury. Basically, informing the jury that no guidelines or limits exist for the decisions placed before them to make.
Finally, following announcement of the verdict and jury award, the court is faced with the issue of a juror claiming the monetary award is incorrect.
Instead of seeking clarification of what the jury decided and if the jurors were actually in agreement and if they understood what they did, Judge Walters buried the issues by quickly accepting plaintiff Bryant's voluntary unilateral offer to have her award reduced by $1 million.
"The conventional wisdom in the local legal community says not necessarily: L.A. juries are generally considered easier on liability but tougher on damage amounts."
Unless the case is decided by an L.A. jury in the court of Federal Judge John F. Walters in a matter involving the widpw of Kobe Bryant.
In that case, Judge Walters will postpone start of trial for 3 weeks with no reason, except targeting Kobe Bryant Day 8/24 for jury deliberations.
Judge Walters will allow co-plaintiff Chris Chester's attorney to inform jury that 8/23 would have been Bryant's 44th birthday.
Judge Walters' will participate with plaintiff Bryant's attorney to provide impromptu testimony.
Plaintiff attorney informed the court that his client was requesting permission to step out of courtroom during proceedings.
Judge Walter granted the request and stated that no request of permission was needed in the future, thus misleading a jury to believe that permission is needed from the Judge for a civil plaintiff observing proceedings to exit before recess is called(its not required), thus leading jury to believe Judge Walter felt that Ms. Bryant's emotional state was so unstable(due to actions committed by defendants) as to warrant granting a blanket permission for duration of trial.
Judge Walter, who previously stated he wanted to split trial into two parts to simplify complex issues for the jury, then provided extremely brief instructions to the Chris Chester/Vanessa Bryant jury. Basically, informing the jury that no guidelines or limits exist for the decisions placed before them to make.
Finally, following announcement of the verdict and jury award, the court is faced with the issue of a juror claiming the monetary award is incorrect.
Instead of seeking clarification of what the jury decided and if the jurors were actually in agreement and if they understood what they did, Judge Walters buried the issues by quickly accepting plaintiff Bryant's voluntary unilateral offer to have her award reduced by $1 million.