PBSO shooting victim loses appeal
11th Circuit Court of Appeals sends Dontrell Stephens’ case back to U.S. District Court.
In what his attorney said was a crushing — even potentially fatal — blow for a 25-year-old West Palm Beach man who was shot by a Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputy, a federal appeals court has finally said he must head back to court to get the $22.4 million a jury in 2016 said he deserved.
Paralyzed from the waist down since he was shot by Deputy Adams Lin in 2013, Dontrell Stephens desperately needs the money for medical care, said his attorney, Jack Scarola.
That the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals took nine months to issue a mandate formally overturning the verdict and sending the case back to U.S. District Court is “inexplicable,” Scarola said of the action the Atlanta-based court took last week.
“I have no idea what was going on at the 11th Circuit but obviously there was no focus on the fact that they were dealing with the life — the survival — of this victim of this terribly tragic shooting,” he said.
“This is the epitome of justice delayed is justice denied.” A deeply divided three- judge appellate panel in Atlanta threw out the verdict in January. But it wasn’t until Sept. 10 that it denied without comment Scarola’s request for a hearing before the entire court. Last week, again without comment, it sent the case back to the trial court. Scarola said he could appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. But, he said, he worries that would only cause further delays, prevent- ing Stephens from getting the medical help he needs. As recently as three weeks ago, he said, Stephens was hospitalized for treatment of 11 skin ulcers. The sores are common and potentially deadly for people who are paralyzed. Famed Superman actor Christopher Reeves, who was paralyzed in a horse- back riding accident, died when one of his skin ulcers became infected, he said. Scarola said he will likely opt to retry the case before U.S. Magistrate Barry Seltzer. After a month-long trial in Fort Lauderdale in 2016, a jury agreed Lin violated Stephens’ constitutional rights by using excessive force when he shot the unarmed Stephens. After stopping the young man for riding his bicycle erratically on Haverhill Road near Okeechobee Boulevard, Lin shot Stephens four sec- onds after getting out of his patrol car. In a dashcam video, Stephens appeard to be running away from Lin. The deputy, later promoted to sergeant, claimed Stephens reached for his pockets Fearing Stephens had a gun, Lin said he opened fire. Stephens was holding a cellphone. Scarola voiced confidence that a second trial would produce the same result — a multi-million-dollar verdict for Stephens. Attorney Summer Barranco, who represents the sheriff’s office, said the appeals court set new rules for a future trial. The three-judge panel said Seltzer — not the jury — should have decided whether Lin as a police officer was entitled to qualified immunity. Police are entitled to special consideration because the nature of their job forces them to make split-scond decisions on whether deadly force is needed. Barranco likened it to a 2015 verdict in the 2010 fatal shooting of Richard Montero by PBSO Deputy Ramesh Nandlal. While jurors awarded Montero's family $540,000 in that case, the verdict was later thrown out by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp because the jury also found that Nandlal made “an objectively reasonable mistake.” The 11th Circuit upheld the decision, she said.