Big Judgment in Road Rage Case

Yesterday Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan entered a judgment for $20 million in a wrongful death action against four young men who shot a 17-year-old girl in a road rage incident in 1997. The men had been acquitted in a murder trial; jurors said they couldn't tell who was lying. Later they were convicted of perjury.

The defendants lost the civil case by not appearing for the May 1 trial, and it is unlikely that any of them has -- or will have -- the resources to pay much of the $20 million judgment, but the family's lawyer, Jack Connelly, said: "The important thing is that justice is finally done. The alternative was to let these guys get away with murder and walk away." 'Justice is finally done', The News Tribune, May 20, 2006.

Filed in: judgment, wrongful-death, road-rage, Pierce-County, Hogan