DALLAS – A Dallas appellate attorney says he is not surprised at the award handed down in the wrongful death civil trial of former Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger.

It was a record number for a case where a police officer — off duty, but in uniform — killed an innocent man, Botham Jean.

Appellate attorney Thad Spalding says he’s not surprised at Wednesday’s $98.6 million judgment for the Jean family in the wrongful death lawsuit against Guyger.

“I think it’s a very natural reaction to what the facts they were presented with,” he said.

The family was awarded $38.6 million in compensatory damages and $60 million in punitive damages.

“It’s hard to quantify the loss of a loved one,” Spalding said. “And so the way this law works is we put this in the hands of the jurors who get to hear the witnesses, get to hear the family members and decide based on that testimony.”

Family attorney Daryl K. Washington said the city should share in liability with Guyger, but the city filed a motion to be removed from the lawsuit, which was granted.

“The city of Dallas hired Amber Guyger. The city of Dallas was responsible for training Amber Guyger on the night that Botham was killed,” Washington said. “The city of Dallas, the police officers protected Amber Guyger. And yet when you have a situation like this, they kick police officers under the bus, and they run away from the liability.”

A U.S. Supreme Court case decided in 1978 called Monell Liability keeps municipalities, in many instances, from exposure in these kinds of excessive force civil rights violation cases.

“What the U.S. Supreme Court said under the civil rights statute that this case was brought under is that a city is not responsible in that same way for its officers’ conduct,” Spalding said.

So while Guyger was considered acting as a police officer, although off duty when she fatally shot Jean in his own apartment, the city has no financial responsibility for her actions.

“In any other scenario, if you’re driving a truck for a company, and you crash into somebody, and you’re negligent when you do that, you’re acting within the scope of your employment,” said Spalding. “And so your employer is responsible.”

Spalding has appeared before the Fifth Circuit and Supreme Court in Monell Liability cases. He says in order to win against Monell Liability, you have to prove one thing.

“It essentially requires that incidents like this have happened multiple times in the past, that the city was aware of these incidents having happened, and that they didn’t do anything about it,” he explained. “It’s what’s called ‘deliberate indifference.’”

For Jean’s family and others, it’s a high bar to cross, which is why, more times than not, cities are dismissed from these types of lawsuits.

DALLAS – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the City of Dallas after it adopted a voter-approved charter amendment that decriminalizes possessing less than 4 ounces of marijuana.

About 67 percent of Dallas voters approved Proposition R in the November election. 

The amendment prohibits Dallas Police from making arrests or issuing citations for possession of up to 4 ounces marijuana. It also blocks the smell of marijuana from being used as probable cause for search or seizure and prohibits the use of city resources for THC tests, except as a part of a violent felony or felony narcotics investigation.

The City of Dallas directed the city to comply with the amendment earlier this week.

Recreational marijuana is still illegal in Texas.

Paxton’s lawsuit says that municipalities cannot refuse to enforce Texas drug laws.

“Cities cannot pick and choose which State laws they follow. The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them. This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.” wrote Paxton in a statement.

The lawsuit is far from a surprise.

In January 2024, Paxton sued cities who passed similar measures, including Denton, Austin, San Marcos, Killeen and Elgin.

Judges overturned Paxton’s lawsuits against Austin and San Marcos.

The lawsuit against the city names Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, city council members, interim city manager Kimberly Tolbert and interim police chief Michael Igo.

On Tuesday, Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn proposed adding a clause to the amendment stating that Proposition R would not be enforced unless the state legalized marijuana. Council members voted against it.

“This is such a waste of your tax dollars. 4oz of marijuana is illegal in TX & USA. Now [Ken Paxton] will have to waste his time suing [The City of Dallas] and the city will waste tax dollars defending a losing case. We’ve put ourselves & the [Dallas Police Department] in a terrible position to violate our oath of office to uphold the law,” Mendelsohn wrote in a social media post.

Paxton’s office is requesting a trial to issue a permanent injunction to stop the city from implementing Proposition R.

Schools need driver’s ed

Re: “Dallas County Grads Likely Won’t Earn Enough — Study finds that students aren’t leaving school with skills, education sufficient to support themselves,” Monday editorial.

All of us who live in Dallas have a vested interest in the future success of our kids. There have been some disconnects between local schools and the needs of local businesses.

In my industry, auto sales, we’ve had a shortage of quality technicians and sales people. Many local schools have outstanding auto tech programs, and graduate students who could become very successful sales people. Both of these jobs have the potential to pay six figures within a relatively short period of time. Often a technician is making more money than his classmate who pursued a four-year degree.

The disconnect comes with graduating students who can be hired and covered by insurance. An applicant without a driver’s license is not employable in our industry as they are uninsurable. Driver’s education has been removed from most high schools, leaving the task of getting a driver’s license up to the student on their own time.

A student who lives in a family that can afford a car for them to practice in and the expense of the class has no issues getting a driver’s license. Unfortunately many students don’t have the available car, time nor money to do this.

Don Herring, Dallas

Students lack stability

You state fairly that students aren’t pursuing skills, education sufficient to support themselves.

It’s hard when the economically insecure are consumed with problems such as hunger, lack of shelter, poor living conditions, health issues and sleep deprivation.

Children need some stability to perform at all in school. Texas ranks last in most measurements supporting families. A struggling entrance almost guarantees a struggling exit and nonperforming results.

James Roberts, Dallas

Stop subsidizing power

Re: “Abbott supports more nuclear power — Office calls for supply chain upgrades, research network to turn vision into reality,” Tuesday news story.

I support no tax subsidies for nuclear plants (or for fossil plants or solar and wind farms or electric vehicles).

Are we now talking about equal opportunity power source subsidies? What ever happened to the idea that the government should not be picking electric power source winners and losers by providing subsidies?

Since when should the government be subsidizing private industry? Shouldn’t power sources be chosen based on the economic benefits those sources bring to the market place rather than government subsidies?

Government subsidies distort the real price of electricity hidden by the taxes we pay. There must be compelling evidence such subsidies are in the public interest, and the real cost of the subsidies must be disclosed.

Thomas L. Darte, Greenville

Learn from voucher failures

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have already declared their intention to have the Texas Legislature vote on school vouchers. Why can’t Texas politicians learn from other states that have tried school vouchers and eliminated them due to the high cost of the program?

Arizona enacted school vouchers in 2022 and this year faced a $1.4 billion budget shortfall, much of which was a result of voucher spending.

Texas public schools need adequate funding, and that is where the governor’s focus should be. Rural school districts are to be congratulated for opposing the governor’s support of school vouchers.

Jack Noteware, McKinney

People have spoken

Re: “School voucher crusade is anything but conservative,” by Glenn Rogers, Nov. 13 Opinion.

Thank you, Glenn Rogers, for your thoughts on the continued push for school vouchers. Once again, Gov. Greg Abbot and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick seem willing to go to any extremes to promote their own agendas and that of their billionaire donors.

It doesn’t seem to matter to them that the people have spoken through their representatives against vouchers. As Rogers points out, it ‘s our public schools and teachers who are paying the price for their unyielding crusade. Quit holding them hostage!

Adele Younkin, Grapevine

Wings need seats

Re: “Can Bueckers have Clark-like impact?” by Kevin Sherrington, Sports Quick Take.

I’m delighted that the Wings got the first pick in the WNBA draft. Paige Bueckers is an excellent possible first choice, although there are other strong candidates.

Bueckers’ college coach Geno Auriemma hurt his credibility with his persistence that Bueckers was better than Caitlin Clark. He’s had to eat his words in many interviews since.

There has never been a player like Clark. Bueckers’ stats don’t compare; in fact, she’s not even in second place. Kelsey Plum is.

Wait till end of WNBA season next year and compare Bueckers’ rookie stats to Clark’s. Let’s see if it’s close. And you can’t ever overlook how Clark makes all the other players around her better and her enormous fan appeal.

A real disaster is that the Wings stadium only holds 6,000 seats. Can’t compare fan appeal if you don’t have seats to sell.

Larry Huddleston, Cedar Hill

Cowboys’ sky already fell

Re: “Is sky falling? Cowboys make some progress, but can’t catch Texans after metal falls,” by David Moore, Tuesday SportsDay column.

Is the sky falling? Nope, the sky fell several weeks ago. It fell when Jerry Jones decided to make the second worst decision in his career. Namely paying Dak Prescott millions, and now Prescott is smiling all the way to the bank.

Don Skaggs, Garland

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