BALTIMORE (Legal Newsline) - A Baltimore County cop has successfully defended himself from a lawsuit over the fatal 2016 shooting of a 23-year-old woman that also injured her son.
Korryn Gaines showed a shotgun when BCPD officers sought to serve a misdemeanor warrant related to a traffic violation. A SWAT team became involved, which led to a standoff.
She live-streamed on Facebook as cops used a key to unlock her door but were blocked by the chain link lock. The door was kicked in, Gaines allegedly pointed a shotgun and an officer opened fire.
Gaines fired off a round of buckshot, and cops including Royce Ruby shot three times. Ruby testified that he was "hot" and "frustrated" during the standoff and that he fired "a head shot" on Korryn.
Korryn was killed and her five-year-old son Kodi was struck in his arm and face, despite Ruby's intention to aim high to miss the child. The shot passed through kitchen drywall, hit Korryn in the upper back, ricocheted off of the refrigerator and hit Kodi in the cheek.
Ruby and a team of officers rushed into the apartment and heard a shotgun go off and be reloaded. Korryn had the gun pointed at him in the kitchen, so he shot her three more times.
On June 25, the Maryland Supreme Court found the Ruby was entitled to immunity from constitutional claims made on Kodi's behalf. Korryn's estate had secured a $38 million verdict that was overturned by a trial judge then reinstated by an intermediate appeals court.
Before that matter could reach the state's highest court, the sides reached a $3 million settlement. The ACLU took up Kodi's cause in an amicus brief, but the Supreme Court ruled against them.
Kodi had once won about $33 million in the trial court on some claims but it was slashed to only $400,000. All that was left to fight over was a due process claim against Ruby.
Ruby argued at trial that he was entitled to qualified immunity on any excessive force claim because his actions were objectively reasonable. The jury ruled for Kodi on all counts of his suit, handing down nearly $33 million in non-economic damages that were later taken down by an appeals court.
The Supreme Court says injured bystanders can not have argue their due process rights were violated unless the police action amounts "to brutal and inhumane abuse of official power literally shocking the conscience."
"Here, there is no evidence that Corporal Ruby intended to harm Kodi or that he knew that Kodi would be harmed, and indeed he aimed high to avoid hitting Kodi," the court wrote.
"(I)t is undisputed that, in fact, Kodi was not in the direct line of fire of the shot that Corporal Ruby took... Ms. Gaines was Kodi's mother and undoubtedly loved him dearly. Still, it is undisputed that Ms. Gaines, armed with a shotgun, declined an opportunity to let Kodi exit the standoff."
Justice Shirley Watts wrote a dissenting opinion, calling the outcome of the case disappointing.
"In reaching this result, the majority opinion engages in first-level factfinding (which is improper for appellate courts to do) and appears to fault the minor child's deceased mother for his injuries," she wrote.
"Most importantly, the Majority reaches the incorrect result by misapplying case law on qualified immunity."