City Liable in Death, but No Damages Awarded
A jury on Friday found the city of Compton liable for the death of a woman whose son had been threatened about testifying in a double-murder case.
Jurors, however, awarded the son no damages.
The verdicts capped a 16-day trial in which Calvin Cooksey contended that investigators failed to warn his mother, Viola Woods, after he received a death threat.
Cooksey was the prosecution’s star witness against Regis Deon Thomas, who was later convicted of killing two Compton police officers, when he told authorities July 25, 1994, that he had found a note outside his girlfriend’s apartment threatening him, his sister and his mother.
Twelve days later, Woods was gunned down outside the Nickerson Gardens housing project in South-Central Los Angeles.
Jurors decided Friday that although the city of Compton was negligent, its actions did not cause Cooksey serious emotional distress.
Jurors cleared the county of Los Angeles of blame in the case. Attorneys for Compton and the county could not be reached for comment.
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