Another Reason To Hate Lawyers, Idiot Judges And Stupid Jurors

From the Chicago Tribune:
A federal jury awarded a man serving a life-sentence for the 1993 massacre of seven workers at a Brown’s Chicken restaurant in suburban Palatine nearly a half-million dollars in his civil rights lawsuit against a former Cook County Jail guard accused of beating him in 2002.
When told by the Tribune Saturday of the jury's decision in favor of James Degorski the day before, the families of the victims expressed outrage.
“The first thought is, 'it kind of feels like a slap in the face,'“ said Dana Sampson, 42. “It’s just very disheartening.”

Her parents Richard and Lynn Ehlenfeldt owned the restaurant and were shot to death along with five employees on Jan. 8, 1993, in one of the most gruesome and infamous mass killings in the Chicago area. All seven victims were found the next day in the restaurant’s cooler and freezer. Degorski and Juan Luna were charged with the murders in 2002. Luna was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2007; Degorski in 2009....

In May 2002, a few hours after he arrived in the maximum-security tier at Cook County Jail,  Degorski, now 41, was allegedly beaten by Thomas Wilson, who was a Cook County Sheriff's deputy.
The blows left Degorski with facial fractures that required surgery to insert two metal plates in his face. Wilson was placed on unpaid leave and eventually fired in 2004 by the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board.
Wilson claimed his actions were in self-defense, and a Cook County circuit judge acquitted him in 2003 of aggravated battery and official misconduct charges....
“The shackles were taken off James Degorski and they were placed on the defendant correctional officers,” Winters said. “I hope jurors read this article, and they find out that James Degorski, unprovoked, took the lives of seven people. They probably thought he was somebody other than who he is. I don’t fault the jury. They didn’t know.”
The $451,000 award gives Degorski $225,000 in compensatory damages, Bonjean said, which is Cook County's responsibility. The remaining $226,000 in punitive damages will come from Wilson, she said.
But it’s still unclear how much, if any of that money, will go to Degorski. The Illinois Department of Corrections may be entitled to a portion of the money for his upkeep, Bonjean said. The victims’ families may also file suit to receive a share.  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-jury-awards-brown-chicken-killer-451k-in-civil-rights-case-20140308,0,1270056.story
The thug should have been happy that is all he got was a few small injuries.
I hope he gets nothing and his thug attorney gets nothing.
Hopefully, Cook County will appeal the verdict.