A federal jury determined that the family of a black man killed in his home by a sheriff’s deputy in Florida after being called for a noise complaint would receive only one percent of the $4 awarded in damages, totaling a whopping four cents.
Hill, who lived in the South Florida city of Fort Pierce, was listening to music in his garage in 2014, when a parent picking a child up from an elementary school across the street called in a noise complaint.
According to court documents, deputies responded and Hill raised his garage door to answer them, but then lowered it again, blocking the officers from entering. A deputy then fired through the door, hitting Hill three times. Deputies testified that they saw Hill holding a weapon, although that fact is still disputed. An unloaded gun was found in the dead man’s back pocket.
Hill’s fiancee, Monique Davis, called the verdict a “slap in the face,” and the family’s lawyer is preparing an appeal, saying he can’t tell whether the jury was angry, or just confused.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Davis Had to Leave the Courtroom to Avoid an Outburst After the Verdict was Read
A grand jury in Florida brought no charges after Hill sued the department, so Hill’s family turned to federal court, filing a civil rights lawsuit against the responding officer and his department.
Hill’s fiancee said she had to leave the courtroom during the verdict so she wouldn’t have an outburst after the verdict was read.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Hill’s fiancée told the New York Times. “There are a lot of questions I want to ask.”
Hours before the verdict, the jury sent a note to the judge asking: “If we find minimal negligence, can the courts overrule monetary amounts presented by the jury?”
The judge replied that she did not understand, and asked them to clarify. They never did, ABC 13 reports.
At another point, they said they were struggling to reach a unanimous decision. The judge told them to keep trying.
2. Davis’ Lawyer Suggested that the Jury Might Have Been Confused on How to Prosecute
The jury had to decide on two claims: a federal civil rights claim and a state-law claim of negligence. John Phillips, the family’s lawyer, suggested that the wording of the instructions may have confused the jurors.
According to ABC 13, “the instructions said they could award $1 in ‘nominal damages’ to the family if Hill’s injuries weren’t clearly the result of unjustifiable force. But that part of the instruction was supposed to apply only to the federal civil rights claim, which the jury decided entirely in the deputy’s favor. On the state-law claim, they decided — in a very small way — in favor of the family by finding the sheriff’s department 1 percent negligent.”
Gregory Hill Jr. verdict by Willa Frej on Scribd
The jury inevitably awarded Hill’s relatives $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each of Hill’s three children. That $4 was then reduced to 4 cents – or 1 percent, representing the sheriff’s liability. The other 99 percent was blamed on Hill’s offenses, under a Florida law that “enables such decisions if a victim was under the influence of alcohol.”
According to ABC 13, University of Miami law professor Osamudia James says “the option of nominal damages is given to juries as a way to acknowledge a wrong, even if they don’t believe large damages are warranted. It’s one tool juries are given to facilitate the difficult process of assigning monetary awards for injuries.”
The funds will further be reduced to zero by a court since the jury blamed Hill for being intoxicated. The family plans to appeal the decision.
3. Davis and Hill Were High School Sweethearts, Had Two Children Together, and Claimed that the Jury Reduced the Value of Hill’s Life by the Verdict
Hill and Davis were high school sweethearts, engaged to be married before he was shot and killed. He had two kids with Davis and a third with another woman, according to ABC 13.
Davis remembers Hill as a family man who loved working and fishing, and always provided for his children, reports ABC 13.
“He wasn’t running the streets doing bad things,” she said. “He was not perfect but he wasn’t a bad guy.”
Davis was devastated by the verdict, stating: “It was basically a slap in the face. You value someone’s life as one dollar?”
4. Attorney Phillips is Baffled by the Verdict & Says the Family Will Appeal the Decision
The family plans to appeal the decision, according to Phillips. He said the jurors — one black man, two white men and five white women — seemed “receptive to the family’s case during the trial, but confused by the instructions the judge gave for their deliberations last week,” according to ABC 13.
“The jury smiled, cried and showed anger during the trial. They were normal, reactive people and seemed to understand both sides of the case,” Phillips said, ABC 13 reports.
Phillip’s is still baffled by the verdict, and says that he plans to to ask for a new trial, and to file an appeal if the new trial is denied.
“A finding of no negligence and no civil rights violations is one thing, but the series of one-dollar awards for these kids was shocking, upsetting and confusing.”
“That a black child’s pain is only worth a dollar is exactly the problem with the plight of the African-American right now,” Phillips told CNN. “This says black lives don’t matter.”
The sheriff’s office released a statement after the incident, claiming that the deputy that shot Hill did what he thought was right to protect himself, his partner and the public.
“Deputy Newman was placed in a very difficult situation, and like so many fellow law enforcement officers must do every day, he made the best decision he could for the safety of his partner, himself, and the public, given the circumstances he faced,” Mascara said in a statement. “We appreciate the jury’s time and understanding and wish everyone involved in this case the best as they move forward.”
5. A GoFundMe Account was Created to Help Support Hill’s Children After the Verdict Failed to Award Any Compensation
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help support Hill’s children, claiming that the jury failed the family with the verdict.
“This gofundme is designed to pick up where the jury left off and provide for Hill’s children” the fundraiser stated. “All funds will be turned over to the family attorney for proper safekeeping. Gregory Hill left behind three small children, ages 13, 10 and 7. ”
Davis’ attorney will place any and all funds into an account reserved for the children, ensure that the funds are protected and that the children’s needs are taken care of.
The fundraiser also talks about how their family was destroyed by the incident.
“Gregory Hill was raised in the same house where he was shot and killed. He raised his kids in the same home. It was also destroyed as police shoot chemical agent through nearly every window of the home, claiming Hill was “barricaded” inside. Memories were destroyed, toys were contaminated and even some of the keepsakes for his upcoming wedding were poisoned by police attempting to poison a man they had already killed.”