City Expected To Challenge $44.7M Verdict In Rogue Cop Case
(CBS) – Attorneys for a plaintiff awarded $44.7 million this week say the city of Chicago is appealing the record-setting verdict.
A jury on Thursday held the city responsible for the gunshot wound to the head that severely injured Michael LaPorta in 2010. LaPorta was at the home of his then-friend Patrick Kelly, who called 9-1-1 to report LaPorta tried to commit suicide.
LaPorta's attorneys say Kelly, now suspended, was the poster child for the "Code of Silence" among police officers.
Jury members say they believe Kelly was the real shooter of the service weapon fired into Laporta's head in 2010.
In interrogation video from that night, Kelly was combative after he told fellow cops LaPorta shot himself. Kelly told them to call his father, a former member of the department.
While in custody he was somehow allegedly able to urinate on his hands, to throw off forensic tests.
LaPorta's attorney, Tony Romanucci, confirmed the city plans to appeal the verdict but says it is failing to see the bigger picture about bad cops remaining on the job without discipline. Kelly has 27 complaints lodged against him.
"We brought the truth out and that jury heard it, and they said the message is loud and clear, and they want it to stop," Romanucci said at a news conference Friday.
During the appeal process, the city will be charged nearly a quarter million dollars a month in interest.
Kelly is suspended and under a new investigation related to his testimony. He was never charged criminally for the shooting.
