Posted on 04/08/2022 1:11:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Santa Cruz County is seeking a nearly a $1.7 million settlement in a civil wrongful death suit against capital murder defendant Steven Carrillo.
According to court records, Carrillo, 34, of Ben Lomond, was served notice of the wrongful death lawsuit while incarcerated. Carrillo has been held at Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since shortly after his June 6, 2020 arrest and did not respond to the lawsuit within a legally allotted time period.
Meanwhile, Carrillo is pending trial in a criminal case stemming from a June 6, 2020 shootout with law enforcement outside Carrillo’s Ben Lomond home. He stands accused of 19 charges, including murder and several counts of attempted murder, along with numerous weapons charges. During the firefight, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller was shot and killed.
In the more recent civil suit, filed in June 2021, the county claimed that it is due recompense for the workers’ compensation death benefits paid out to Gutzwiller’s family. Authorities declined to comment on details of the case Thursday, with a spokesperson saying the county had hired outside legal counsel to handle the case.
“Though this case is unusual, this is fairly standard when a third party causes an injury (or death) to one of our workers,” county spokesperson Jason Hoppin said of the wrongful death suit.
(Excerpt) Read more at santacruzsentinel.com ...
It’s Santa Cruz ... ‘nuff said ...
The lawyers get paid. They can bill government for expenses and reasonable renumeration. Maybe it is like Hillary, giving her Brother Hugh Rodham a “piece” of the tobacco lawsuit back in the 1990’s? A connected person needs to “jump start” a relatives or a donors relative, with the VIG going to political campaigns.
IIRC, the guy has some money. Not sure how much, but enough that he could direct his brother to give his girlfriend $50K cash from his account.
If he owns a house in Ben Lomond, he's not broke, and he might be wealthy.
This guy probably doesn’t have a dime and will never pay a cent.
But, if the next guy who murders or harms a county employ is wealthy, then they can go after his assets. If they let the first guy off, the second guy would have a good argument that they were treating them equally.
Just a guess.
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