Jury Awards $900K In Malik Jones Case

Thirteen years after an East Haven cop chased Malik Jones into New Haven and then shot him dead at close range, a federal jury Thursday decided Jones’ life was worth $900,000.

The jury, sitting in U.S. District Court in Hartford, decided that the town of East Haven owes that money to the dead man’s estate in compensatory damages, in a lawsuit brought by Jones’ mother, Emma Jones.

It was the latest twist in a long-running civil rights drama that has exposed raw debates over race and criminal justice and consumed countless hours of state and federal authorities’ time.

David Rosen, the attorney representing Emma Jones, called Thursday’s verdict a ​“vindication for Malik’s mother who has hung in there for more than 13 years trying to do the right thing by her son.”

Jones said she was still ​“digesting” the news as she drove home to New Haven from Hartford.

“It’s not the $900,000” that matters, she said. ​“It’s about the life and death of my son. Even though East Haven has never made an admission, I’ve had two juries come down in my favor. That’s significant to me.”

She said she hopes the verdict sends a message ​“that we’re all human beings.”

The saga’s not over. Hugh Keefe, East Haven’s lawyer, told the Independent following the verdict late Thursday afternoon that the town plans to appeal.

That next stage will focus in part on the question of how to value a human life under the law.

Asked his view of the $900,000 verdict, Keefe responded, ​“It’s better than $2.5 million,” which is the amount of money the town originally was ordered to pay. Then he said he’s confident that the town will succeed in reducing the verdict on appeal if it can win the right to put on testimony about Malik Jones’ criminal history. Attorney Rosen said he’s confident that won’t happen.

A Cause Celebre

The saga began on April 14, 1997. Jones, who’s black, was driving in East Haven. He had been meeting a man with whom he had been involved in alleged gun-dealing. The police didn’t know that; they wanted to make a motor vehicle stop. (No evidence was ever presented that the police knew whom they were trying to stop.) Jones fled instead of stopping. A high-speed chase ensued onto I‑95, over the Q Bridge, onto Grand Avenue in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood.

Jones stopped in a vacant lot a block away from his home. One of the officers chasing him stopped, too. The officer, Robert Flodquist, jumped out of his car, busted the window of Jones’ car, and pumped a stream of deadly bullets into Jones’ body. Jones was unarmed. Flodquist later said that Jones gave him a ​“go to Hell” look, and the car may have been slowly rolling backwards, so he thought his life was at risk.

The case sparked immediate outrage on both sides of the New Haven-East Haven border. Civil rights advocates called it an unprovoked execution by a suburban department notorious for profiling and committing violence against blacks. Police supporters said Jones should have stopped his car and Flodquist had legitimate reason to fear his life. Years of demonstrations and state and federal investigations ensued. Activists used the case to argue successfully for new state legislation aimed at limiting racial profiling.

In the end, the state’s attorney decided not to press criminal charges against the police in the case. The same with the U.S. Department of Justice.

So Emma Jones went to federal court. She filed a suit in U.S. District Court accusing Flodquist and the town of violating her son’s civil rights.

The jury found in her favor and against the town, and awarded her $2.5 million. However, the jury made a technical error. It awarded punitive damages. It did not award compensatory damages. Under federal law, a municipality can’t be held liable for punitive damages in these cases. If it wants to award damages, it’s supposed to award compensatory damages. So the judge, Alvin W. Thompson, ordered a new trial — not on the guilty verdict, but on whether to award compensatory damages.

East Haven’s attorney Keefe appealed that order to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He argued that the judge shouldn’t have ordered a new trial on damages. The court said it was premature to rule on such a request, that the case had to run its course first before an appeal could be taken up. (Read about that here.)

What’s A Life Worth?

So on Wednesday the sides reconvened in the federal courtroom in Hartford to argue about whether Jones should receive compensatory damages. Attorney Rosen argued yes — and asked for $4 million. Keefe argued no.

The presentation of evidence lasted only some 25 minutes, Keefe said. ​“It was the fastest trial I was ever involved in my life.” The reason: Keefe wanted to present expert testimony that Jones would have lived only another 10 years because he was involved in crime. He wanted to present evidence about Jones’ previous arrests and involvement with drugs. The judge said he couldn’t present that evidence.

“I feel that this verdict would be the same as the last time: zero,” if he had been allowed to make that case, Keefe said.

Keefe said that that issue — as well as the decision to have a second trial on compensatory damages after the jury originally didn’t award any — form grounds for an appeal. Which the town plans to file.

Attorney Rosen said the judge and Emma Jones are on solid legal ground. According to precedent, a person’s criminal history is not considered relevant to determining the value of his life, Rosen said. ​“The law is that you don’t get a discount depending on who you kill.”

And he argued that the judge was right to hold a second hearing on whether to award compensatory damages.

“A verdict that a human life is worth nothing is a mistake,” Rosen said.

“I am just so exhilarated,” New Haven criminal justice reform activist Barbara Fair, who has helped organize demonstrations and public speaking events about the case, said upon hearing the news. ​“After all these years of struggle, [Emma Jones] was persistent for justice for her son. I’m just so happy for her. And I’m happy that the government did the right thing for her.”