51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Javad Khazaeli and Abby Duncan both asked a federal jury on Friday to focus on a question. The two attorneys were asking different questions.

One would prevail, to the tune of a $18.75 million verdict.

The jury for a week had been hearing evidence in a federal courtroom in 51黑料 for a lawsuit brought by Dennis Ball-Bey. He鈥檚 the father of Mansur Ball-Bey, an 18-year-old who was shot and killed on Aug. 19, 2015, by former 51黑料 police Officer Kyle Chandler.

, who represents Dennis Ball-Bey, told the jury in his closing argument, 鈥淭his is a case with a simple question 鈥� Why is there a body here, and a gun 164 feet away?鈥�

The body of Mansur, who had no criminal record, was found in the front yard of a house on Walton Avenue in the Fountain Park neighborhood after a police raid and foot chase. His gun, which he never fired, was found sitting next to a dumpster in the alley behind the backyard. The raid was at the home of Mansur鈥檚 cousin.

Khazaeli鈥檚 case focused on the fact an autopsy revealed Mansur鈥檚 body had a severed spine. It鈥檚 a critical fact because Chandler鈥檚 version of events was that he shot Mansur in the backyard and then Mansur, with a hollow-point bullet that hit his spine and also went through his aorta, somehow continued running into the front yard.

Duncan, who works for the city counselor鈥檚 office and is representing Chandler, turned the question around when addressing the jury. 鈥淭he million-dollar question is: When was the (spinal) cord transected? When did that occur?鈥�

The defense argued that the bullet damaged the spine but that it wasn鈥檛 severed until later, perhaps when officers were handcuffing Mansur. Chandler, his partner, Ronald Vaughan, and several other officers all testified that Mansur was still running after they heard gunshots.

In the end, the jury of six men and three women saw the case through the prism offered by Khazaeli. After about 90 minutes of deliberation, they found in favor of Dennis Ball-Bey and awarded him $6.25 million in compensatory damages from the city. In a second part of the trial, held Friday afternoon, the jury awarded the family an additional $12.5 million in punitive damages. Khazaeli said he believes it鈥檚 the largest verdict ever against the city in a police shooting case.

Unless there are appeals, the verdict will bring an end to a decade-long drama surrounding one of the most controversial police shootings in recent 51黑料 history. The shooting happened about a year after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson that ignited protests nationwide.

鈥淎fter nine years, the family finally has a modicum of justice,鈥� Khazaeli said after the verdict. 鈥淏ut it shouldn鈥檛 have taken this long. The jury has spoken and hopefully the scourge of killing unarmed Black men will lessen.鈥�

Two days after Mansur died, 51黑料 medical examiner Michael Graham told the press that Ball-Bey had been shot in the back and that the bullet severed his spine. Graham said a severed spine would not have allowed Mansur to run. Graham later changed his theory, saying Ball-Bey鈥檚 spine perhaps was severed when he was arrested, and ordered a second autopsy after learning his statements in the press contradicted the version Chandler and Vaughan had given.

Then-Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce declined to prosecute the officers, though she made clear she didn鈥檛 believe the shooting was 鈥渏ustified.鈥�

During the trial this week, Khazaeli and his fellow attorneys painted Chandler and Vaughan as liars and pointed out they had been fired in 2021 for being dishonest in internal investigations.

Duncan said that didn鈥檛 matter because every witness claimed they saw Mansur running after hearing gunshots.

鈥淭hey want to take shots at Chandler and Vaughan? Go for it,鈥� Duncan told the jury. 鈥淲hat about the other five guys? All you need to believe is one.鈥�

In the end, trusting the evidence of shell casings and experts who contradicted the officers鈥� claims on where they were standing when firing their guns, the jury determined that it was more likely than not (the standard in civil cases) that the officers were lying or mistaken.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a very long time and I鈥檝e been waiting on the justice,鈥� Dennis Ball-Bay said after the verdict. 鈥淭he truth has come out.鈥�