Court Awards $300,000 To Burglar's Family For Being Shot By Property Owner

[twyacht]

http://www.gazette.com/articles/jury-123946-burglar-lot.html

Burglar's family awarded $300,000 in wrongful death suit
Comments 345
August 26, 2011 12:13 PM
LANCE BENZEL
THE GAZETTE

An El Paso County jury on Friday awarded nearly $300,000 to the daughter of a burglar who was fatally shot in 2009 while breaking into an auto lot.

Parents of the victim, Robert Johnson Fox, embraced their attorneys after a judge announced the jury’s verdict, capping a two-week-long civil trial in which business owner Jovan Milanovic and two relatives were painted as vigilantes who plotted a deadly ambush rather than let authorities deal with a string of recent burglaries.

Phillip and Sue Fox, who filed suit for wrongful death in 2010 on behalf of Fox’s 3-year-old daughter, called the jury’s award a victory in their fight to seek accountability for the death of their son, who they say never posed a threat to the heavily armed men.

“Rob was in the wrong place doing the wrong thing, but the punishment didn’t fit the crime,” Sue Fox said afterward. “I can’t excuse his actions, but he didn’t deserve to be executed.”

The exact amount of the award was $269,500, for factors such as loss of companionship and loss of future earnings. The family will also be awarded some of the costs associated with the more than yearlong legal battle.

The jury of three men and three women deliberated for 2½ days over closely contested testimony about the predawn shooting on April 19, 2009.

Fox, 20, was shot after he and a friend scaled a fence to get inside Southwest Auto Sales at 2444 Platte Place in the city’s Knob Hill neighborhood. According to the accomplice, Brian Corbin, they had smoked methamphetamine and were looking to steal anything to buy more drugs.

Corbin testified he saw two armed men charge out of a building and run in their direction, one of them shouting “we’re gonna get you” in an obscenity-laced threat. Corbin, who escaped by climbing over a car and jumping a fence, said he felt a bullet pass by him as someone fired four gunshots.

Fox was standing inside a small shed when a .45-caliber rifle bullet passed through the shed’s door and pierced his heart.

 

Police said in a 145-page investigative report that the intruder had knives in his pockets and one strapped to his ankle, but never posed a threat to Milanovic or the other men, his father Ljuban Milanovic and brother-in-law Srdjan Novak.

The men are refugees who came to the United States from the former Yugoslavia in 1998.

Jurors found that Fox’s death was the result of “willful and deliberate” conduct by Jovan Milanovic, who was accused of firing the rifle, and Novak, who supplied the semiautomatic Heckler & Koch that Milanovic used in the killing.

Only Ljuban Milanovic emerged without a judgment against him.

The jurors declined to comment after the trial.

"It's been a long two weeks," one said before getting on an elevator.

The three men were accused of keeping an armed vigil over the auto lot and firing on the first burglars they saw. The men were angry over a series of thefts that began when someone broke in a week earlier and stole keys to customers’ automobiles as well as keys to buildings on the property.

Car stereos were taken in the days that followed, according to testimony.

Under Colorado’s self-defense laws, the use of deadly force is justified only under the “reasonable belief” that it’s necessary to prevent serious bodily injury or death. The jury found that none of the men had a legitimate claim of self-defense.

Property rights are not a lawful defense for using deadly force in Colorado, and the state’s so-called Make My Day law, which sets lower standard for using force, applies to households, not businesses.

For the plaintiff's attorneys, Terry Rector and Jennifer Stock, Friday's verdict ended an emotionally draining fight for the girl, Sidney Richardson, who has been cared for by the elder Foxes for the past year.

Rector, of Colorado Springs, had represented Fox on traffic matters, and said his death came as a blow.

"I can see him sitting in my office today," an emotional Rector said as participants filed out of the courthouse.

"This is a victory for Sidney Richardson. It's the only measure of justice we have - we cannot bring her father back."

Said Stock: "This jury didn't let sympathy and bias influence them. That's why we got the correct verdict that follows the law."

Milanovic and his father told police a week before the shooting they would shoot any intruders who returned. Police say the men concealed the rifle in the trunk of a car so well that a police detective initially missed it during a search.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office declined to file charges in the shooting, and instead sent the case to a grand jury, which decided against returning an indictment, effectively clearing the trio of criminal wrongdoing.

The civil award has no criminal implications for the Milanovics or Novak.

Defense attorneys John P. Craver and Chelsey Burns declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/jury-123946-burglar-lot.html#ixzz1WSfx9QZH

*****

Geez.....

[TAB]

The part that worrys me is the shooting thru the door.

[kmitch200]

According to the accomplice, Brian Corbin, they had smoked methamphetamine and were looking to steal anything to buy more drugs.

The exact amount of the award was $269,500, for factors such as loss of companionship and loss of future earnings.

Future earnings that didn't go for dope, or is that counted too?  Meth-head Companionship?

These guys shouldn't have shot the guy over a burglary IMHO but I think they did the kid a favor.

[TAB]

According to the accomplice, Brian Corbin, they had smoked methamphetamine and were looking to steal anything to buy more drugs.

The exact amount of the award was $269,500, for factors such as loss of companionship and loss of future earnings.

Future earnings that didn't go for dope, or is that counted too?  Meth-head Companionship?

These guys shouldn't have shot the guy over a burglary IMHO but I think they did the kid a favor.

I disagree with that statement when your livlyhood is on the line.  Stealling tools from a tradesmen, of stuff from a store can effect the owners means to feed thier family.  I take that very personally.

[JC5123]

According to the accomplice, Brian Corbin, they had smoked methamphetamine and were looking to steal anything to buy more drugs.

The exact amount of the award was $269,500, for factors such as loss of companionship and loss of future earnings.

He was 20 years old when this happened, and they figured $269,500 for the future earnings of his lifetime. They had high hopes for this schmuck didn't they. 

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

In reading the article this is not a case of self defense.  This is also an example of what not to do when protecting yourself with deadly force.

As much as I hate to say it, I think the property owner got off light.

However, at what point in recent history did we throw out the limitation that says if you are breaking the law you do not have the Right to claim damages 

[tt11758]

I disagree with that statement when your livlyhood is on the line.  Stealling tools from a tradesmen, of stuff from a store can effect the owners means to feed thier family.  I take that very personally.

Just a couple of points.  First, the statement with which you take issue was clearlyh denoted as an opinion.  Second, while I agree with you about theft of the means of livelihood, it still doesn't give one the right to use deadly force.  In fact, a gentleman failed one of my gun permit classes because he couldn't grasp the concept that he can't shoot somebody who is burglarizing his house, unless there is a reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.  He just couldn't get past his.....for lack of a better word.......personal bias on the matter.  As a result, there was no way he was taking a form to the Sheriff with MY signature on it to get his carry permit.

[tombogan03884]

Texas may be the only state that allows you to shoot some one over "stuff".

[kmitch200]

I disagree with that statement when your livlyhood is on the line.  Stealling tools from a tradesmen, of stuff from a store can effect the owners means to feed thier family.  I take that very personally.

If you want to beat the living shit out of someone for taking tools, be my guest. I hope they eat through a straw for 6 weeks.

If you want to use deadly force over stuff, no matter how important, we'll just refer to you as "defendant". And depending on the DA, that might be for both the civil and criminal trials.

I'm in agreement with M58 on the 'they got off light' statement. They only had to pay lawyers for one trial.
They hid the weapon? Who does that in a SD shooting that doesn't have their head up their butt?

[Ichiban]

Texas may be the only state that allows you to shoot some one over "stuff".

Now, if these guys had been in the same building at the time they might of had a case.  As it is, I think they got off pretty lightly.

Colorado "...any occupant of a dwelling is justified in using any degree of physical force, including deadly physical force, against another person when that other person has made an unlawful entry into the dwelling, and when the occupant has a reasonable belief that such other person has committed a crime in the dwelling in addition to the uninvited entry, or is committing or intends to commit a crime against a person or property in addition to the uninvited entry, and when the occupant reasonably believes that such other person might use any physical force, no matter how slight, against any occupant." 18-1-704.5 Use of deadly physical force against an intruder.