Posted on 03/10/2014 7:50:08 AM PDT by PaulCruz2016
CHICAGO - A former handyman serving life in prison for the 1993 murder of seven people at a suburban Chicago restaurant has been awarded nearly a half-million dollars in a civil lawsuit in which he alleged a jail guard punched him in the face.
Victims' relatives Sunday criticized jurors' decision for James Degorski, who, with an accomplice, shot and stabbed two restaurant owners and five workers at Brown's Chicken and Pasta during a botched robbery. Their bodies were found in a walk-in cooler and freezer.
Degorski, now 41, accused a Cook County Jail guard of punching him and breaking his cheekbone and eye socket in 2002 - just after Degorski's arrest in what had been one of the most notorious, unsolved murder cases in Illinois history.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxny.com ...
I assume the funds will be held until settlements are made in the seven wrongful death suits.
Good. Bill him for his incarceration.
He killed 7 people in 1999 and he is still alive? Unbelievable! Is he at least on death row?
1993
The jury said Degorski should get $225,000 in compensatory damages, which is the amount Cook County must pay, attorneys said; $226,000 in punitive damages would have to be paid by Wilson.
Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24928665/man-convicted-of-slaying-7-awarded-nearly-500k#ixzz2vZXETcYa
****** seems like the prison guard is being forced to pay. Not just the taxpayers. The familes better file wrongful death suits so they can get some of the 500,000...which surely is out on appeal
I don’t think Illinois has a death penalty ...
Good grief! If any state needed one............
“Texas put in a fast lane” Ron White
The ACLU hard at work for you
If I was a family member of the victim, I’d sue to get some of the money and then I’d give it to the guard. He deserves thanks for punching that murdering thug.
In Michigan they would. Plus the state DOC would take a swing at the money for expenses of his incarceration. A little known law, “the crime victims rights act of 1985” provides for this. It also goes after the profits generated by criminals for any books or movies written about the crimes they committed. It was used quite successfully against Jack Kevorkian.
CC
Jury deadlocked on the death penalty sentence. He's doing life.
So they decided to give him $71,000 per victim?
I thought they used to say “Crime doesn’t pay”...
I was thinking the same and do it publicly. Rub it in his criminal face
Illinois has a death penalty, but, in 2002, then-Gov. George Ryan (RINO) ended the death sentences of everyone, on death row, about 25 people, with an executive order, giving them life in prison.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.