The family of a man killed by Chicago police wants a new trial in a wrongful death lawsuit after a top city attorney acknowledged that he failed to turn over crucial evidence before the first trial, despite knowing about it a week before the jury was chosen.
Lawyers for the family of Darius Pinex are asking a federal judge to sanction Senior Corporation Counsel Jordan Marsh and are seeking a new trial in their $10 million suit or for the judge to find in their favor without a trial, the Chicago Tribune reported. A jury sided with the officers in March and awarded nothing to either Pinex's family or Pinex's passenger, Matthew Colyer.
Pinex was shot to death in 2011 after police stopped his Oldsmobile Aurora in a South Side neighborhood, later saying it matched the description they'd heard over the radio of a car wanted in a shooting.
But that dispatch actually aired in a different radio zone, so the officers did not hear it, according to court records. A different call that aired in the officers' zone involved an Oldsmobile Aurora that didn't match Pinex's car and wasn't wanted in a shooting.
Marsh recently admitted under oath that he violated court rules by failing to turn over that recording, and he did not tell other members of his trial team, records show.
The judge and plaintiffs' attorneys found out about the other recording about halfway through the trial from a witness being questioned about how the search for dispatch recordings was conducted. Marsh said at the time that he'd just learned of its possible existence, and the recording eventually was played for jurors.
But after the trial, the judge approved a full investigation into the rules breach. The newspaper said the depositions revealed that Marsh had repeatedly deceived the judge and plaintiff's attorneys about when he learned of the recording.
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Marsh's attorney said his client didn't do anything "untoward or unethical whatsoever" and expects to be vindicated.
The city's Law Department issued a statement saying it takes its attorneys' professionalism seriously and is preparing a detailed response to the allegations for the judge.
The attorney for Pinex's family and Colyer said the revelations call into question whether the stop was legally justified, and say there's evidence police tried to cover it up by talking about the different dispatches.
Police blinded Pinex with the spotlight from their marked squad car before boxing his car in from the front and approaching with guns drawn. They fired multiple shots when, they said, Pinex gunned his car in reverse, throwing Colyer from the car and nearly running over one of the officers.
