Supreme Court Denies Appeal In 20-Year-Old Case Against NYPD

After a 20 year legal battle, the New York Supreme Court has denied a man's appeal to receive an original award of over $75 Million US Dollars for injuries sustained after being shot in the spine by an NYPD officer.

Darryl Barnes was shot in the back and paralyzed by a New York Police Officer, Franz Jerome, in August of 1988. Prosecutors in the original case claimed that Jerome saw Barnes running with a semi-automatic pistol and that Barnes actually fired a shot at the officer. Jerome identified himself as a police officer and told Barnes to stop but Barnes did not stop so Jerome shot him. Defense claims that Barnes picked up the weapon from a crime scene where two other individuals had been fighting and then threw it back down. They also claimed that he did not see officer Jerome. The original trial jury awarded Darryl Barnes $76.5 Million US dollars, but that amount was reduced by the trial judge to $8.9 Million. The city appealed the ruling to a higher court, citing improperly excluding evidence and in a second trial in 2003, a jury ruled in favor of Barnes and awarded him $51 Million US dollars. The trial judge reduced that amount to $10.75 Million. The evidence used against Barnes was that he was a "member of the Five Percenters, an anti-white, anti-police group that advocates violent resistance to arrest". Again, the city appealed the ruling but this time, the results were a little different, according to a news report. The appeal's judge dismissed the case because Barnes failed to show up for his own trial.

"Motion for leave to appeal denied with one hundred dollars costs and necessary reproduction disbursements."

Instead of a ruling in his favour, Barnes now gets to pay a $100 US dollar fee to the court. Barnes' attorney is still contemplating whether they will take the twenty-year-old case to the United States Federal Court. In a final statement made by Corporation Counsel, Michael Cardozo, he said

"It should go without saying that a criminal who shoots at a police officer and endangers the community should not be rewarded with huge verdicts"

It will be interesting to see if the case is appealed to the United States Supreme Court.