NEWS
Family stunned after jury awards 4 cents in dad’s death by cop
By Lia Eustachewich
June 1, 2018 | 10:33am
Gregory Hill, his fiancee and two of his childrenGoFundMe
The fiancée of the armed Florida man killed by cops responding to a noise complaint said her “heart just dropped” when she learned the jury awarded the grieving family a mere 4 cents.
Monique Davis stormed out of the courtroom when the miserly award was announced in court Thursday, according to NBC News.
“My heart just dropped,” Davis recalled. “It was like, are y’all serious?”
SEE ALSO
Family awarded 4 cents for man's death by cop
Davis’ husband-to-be, Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr., was killed in 2014 by sheriff’s deputy Christopher Newman, who had responded to the 30-year-old’s Fort Pierce home on a complaint of loud music.
Newman — who claimed Hill pulled a gun out — shot the father of three as his garage door was closing.
Hill was later found with an unloaded gun in his back pocket.
His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Newman and St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara — and jurors effectively cleared the cops of any wrongdoing.
After 10 hours of deliberations, they found Mascara was just 1 percent responsible for the shooting death — and assigned 99 percent blame to Hill, who was drunk at the time.
Jurors awarded $1 for funeral expenses to Hill’s mom and a buck each to his three kids, ages 7, 10 and 13. The total award was reduced to just 4 cents, though, because of Mascara’s 1 percent of negligence.
The family’s lawyer, John Phillips, was stunned.
“I’d have rather seen a zero than have to tell the children that their pain and suffering for losing their father is only a dollar,” he said Thursday. “Either it was punitive or they viewed these children’s pain as virtually worthless.”
Family stunned after jury awards 4 cents in dad’s death by cop
By Lia Eustachewich
June 1, 2018 | 10:33am
Gregory Hill, his fiancee and two of his childrenGoFundMe
The fiancée of the armed Florida man killed by cops responding to a noise complaint said her “heart just dropped” when she learned the jury awarded the grieving family a mere 4 cents.
Monique Davis stormed out of the courtroom when the miserly award was announced in court Thursday, according to NBC News.
“My heart just dropped,” Davis recalled. “It was like, are y’all serious?”
SEE ALSO
Family awarded 4 cents for man's death by cop
Davis’ husband-to-be, Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr., was killed in 2014 by sheriff’s deputy Christopher Newman, who had responded to the 30-year-old’s Fort Pierce home on a complaint of loud music.
Newman — who claimed Hill pulled a gun out — shot the father of three as his garage door was closing.
Hill was later found with an unloaded gun in his back pocket.
His mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Newman and St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara — and jurors effectively cleared the cops of any wrongdoing.
After 10 hours of deliberations, they found Mascara was just 1 percent responsible for the shooting death — and assigned 99 percent blame to Hill, who was drunk at the time.
Jurors awarded $1 for funeral expenses to Hill’s mom and a buck each to his three kids, ages 7, 10 and 13. The total award was reduced to just 4 cents, though, because of Mascara’s 1 percent of negligence.
The family’s lawyer, John Phillips, was stunned.
“I’d have rather seen a zero than have to tell the children that their pain and suffering for losing their father is only a dollar,” he said Thursday. “Either it was punitive or they viewed these children’s pain as virtually worthless.”
