Posted on 09/22/2012 1:14:01 PM PDT by Politicalmom
The April verdict by a Frederick County jury that awarded $620,000 to a Taneytown family after their dog was shot by a sheriff's deputy was upheld by a Montgomery County judge.
An attorney for the Frederick County Sheriff's Office argued that the jury's verdict should be set aside because it went against the weight of the evidence presented during the seven-day trial. Michael B. Rynd asked Judge Marielsa Bernard to either set aside the verdict or grant his motion for a new trial.
Bernard heard the case after Frederick County judges recused themselves.
She denied Rynd's motion, saying it would be inappropriate to substitute her judgment for the jury's verdict. She issued her ruling Monday.
Rynd also filed a motion to have the $620,000 judgment lowered.
Bernard agreed with Rynd that Maryland law caps damages for veterinary bills at $7,500 and reduced the original $20,000 for those costs.
The rest of the award, $600,000, was for mental anguish, pain and suffering, according to court records.
Rynd argued that portions of that amount should have been decreased because the jury awarded the exact same amount to each of the two homeowners, Roger and Sandi Jenkins. Sandi Jenkins seemed more upset during testimony at trial, so the damages should be less for her husband, Rynd said.
Bernard denied that part of the motion.
On April 3, a six-person jury found Deputy First Class Timothy Brooks violated the Jenkinses' rights under the Maryland Constitution when he shot their chocolate Labrador retriever, Brandi, on Jan. 9, 2010, while he and Deputy First Class Nathan Rector were at their Bullfrog Road home looking for their son, who was wanted on a civil warrant.
(Excerpt) Read more at fredericknewspost.com ...
Here is a comment from the Washington Post>>>>
Interesting that the reporter did not choose to tell the whole story. The “boy” who the officers were trying to “locate” was wanted for robbery and burglary. In other words he was a fugitive. The parents knew where he was and all they had to do was point the way to the closet where he was hiding and the dog would be alive today.
But its the agenda of the Post to make law enforcement look bad and by reading these comments they have done their job.
No, but if someone (police or not) comes on my property for no reason because they are uniformed...and shoots my dog that is chained for no reason...$600,000 is a small price to pay.
There is a principle involved. If you own or rent any home, it is yours and should be protected from anyone without a warrant.
And if they have a warrant...announce your purpose. Don’t start by shooting.
“The jury also found that Brooks and Rector violated the couples rights by entering their home without permission after they left the house to take Brandi to the vet.”
From the article.
Would this be hunky dory for this to happen to you?
I believe in God but I don’t believe in dogs. Much lower than my belief in God...I believe in cats, hamsters and pet gold fish, cockatoos, parrots, not necessarily in that order. Just because you have a dog and are a dog lover you are not a mini-god deserving of a $600,000 payout due to some nitwit cop shooting your hound. My clue for you here is that both dog lovers and trigger happy cops can be nitwits. In this Maryland case you have a battle of the nitwits. Phonied up emotional trauma to extract $600,000 from the taxpayers done by two nitwit dog worshipers versus a nitwit cop who should not have shot their dog
As the Three Stooges used to say — “Beam me up Scotty” - Frederick County Maryland is not fit for human habitation only by Federale bureaucrats and contractors who can finesse a longer commute into DC where the real money is
“I believe in God but I dont believe in dogs. “
And yet, dogs believe in God, and vice versa.
You can’t be selective about “believing in” God’s creation if you truly believe in Yahweh.
While I would love for the $600,000 to be directly payable by the fool who shot their dog, the law as it currently stands isn’t written that way.
It can be written that way when enough people are aware of the problem and demand that any officer who shoots a house pet or trespasses on private property be held personally liable for his behavior.
Ah, another failed attempt to defend Maryland taxpayers ~ it won’t work. We know who elects the freaks who hire the goons ~ so there you have it.
I have to say, I agree.
I am a dog lover and RESPECTER (rare in America). (I also love cats.)
I’m sorry, but I don’t like “pain & suffering” nonsense for any subject matter. It’s completely subjective. Don’t care whether the subject was truly guilty or not. They should stick to genuine costs and maybe a fixed small % above that.
My sister just died of her horrible cancer finally getting to her. I sat with her for hours and watched her die. I will have those images and sounds forever of her delirium that last day. Whom do I sue? The oncologist? The stupid fakir naturopath she insisted on trying the last month? The gyno’s who dismissed her early pain? Talk about pain & suffering! (BTW, she had to put down her GS a month before and her 2 GS are now buried with her.)
BTW, the case seems to be Frederick (being invaded by Monty liberals but not totally), but the jury was in Monty Co. Liberal land.
Sorry, I was wrong on the Fred/Monty thing. Confusing story and I just read it again. Fred trial, Monty judge review.
No. You’re right.
I am sorry about your sister. We can all make legitimate criticisms of the care a loved one gets during a medical crisis. As far as this $600,000 payout you have a judge and jury from liberal Montgomery County sticking it to the taxpayers of Frederick County. They can afford to be generous with another county’s taxpayer’s money.
This case was a hot potato. No Frederick county judge would preside over it. They would only get grief no matter what the decision. All over a freaking dog. In a prior post I refereed to the police having a strong suspicion that these wise guy parents were concealing their son. He was was wanted on suspicion of burglary
Give the money back to the taxpayer and fire the chief of police. That'll be a better solutionConservatives believe in holding elected and public officials accountable and the courts are precisely where the founding fathers preferred to address civil torts & crimes. The scale of the award can be argued as excessive or not, but it arose out of the courts and was determined by a jury.
A citizen has little power to fire the chief. However, a pattern of large jury awards for the same/similar issue becomes a political problem as it *finally* starts getting the taxpaying voters attention, among other aspects. And it is the taxpaying voter who elects the leadership that employs the mis/mal-feasant Barney-Fife's. On the other hand, if the taxpaying voter (footing the bill for these awards) keeps electing mis/mal-feasant leadership, then clearly the voters of that jurisdiction (as a whole) tolerate/prefer the situation.
Once lawyers started advertising, it became a failed system.
Fire the chief if you really love dogs.
How many dogs must die before you realize that taxpayer money won't save them?
It's not how many dogs must die, but how many lawsuits brought by harmed citizens will it take until the taxpayers get tired of paying for the mis/mal-feasance of their elected officials and as a group, demand they change policy and/or pressure the mayor (or whoever) to fire someone. A single citizen or even a handful can't affect that result by themselves -- except though the courts, repeatedly and consistently using the big stick of a painful civil award.
Fire the chief if you really love dogs.
Not worried about dogs as much as I'm concerned about the ever growing number of Barney-Fife's loosed on the populace with heavy badges and hair-triggers by political leadership that is unresponsive to the taxpayers they serve. As a single citizen, you CAN NOT fire the police chief. If you want the police chief fired, the fastest way is for all harmed citizens to make him a distinct liability for the jurisdiction paying for his mis/mal-feasance. Otherwise as a single citizen, your only plausible recourse is perhaps protesting with a clever sign, writing letters to the local editor, or something similar that is easily ignored.
You may be able to walk into your local P.D. and fire your police chief, but I've never heard of such a thing anywhere else. Anyone else who wants to actually accomplish something typically has to go through the courts for "redress of grievances", just like the founding fathers intended.
On what evidence do you assert that I would consider a police officer shooting a cat less heinous than than the same officer shooting a dog?
You are entitled to your opinion, even if its a crappy one.
My dog is family, he’s my almost constant companion and like a child to me.
Pain and suffering wouldn’t begin to describe what I’d go through if one of these donut-munching imbeciles shot him.
And %600 Grand wouldn’t even be close to the reserve price when I filed my suit(s).
So frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn about what you believe.
So the stupid cops shoot their dog in retaliation?
This is your justification?
What a maroon!
Dennis is a JBT boot-licker...or he’s a donut-muncher himself.
he ALWAYS defends the cops in these threads. Don’t bother trying to talk sense to him, his head is so full of rocks it will never get through.
I’d rather shoot the cop who did it..
...preferably in the kneecaps so he’s crippled for life.
Every move he makes will remind him of what a useless pos he really is.
OK Be like that.
I never eat donuts. Can’t remember the last time I ate one
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