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| Korryn and Kodi Gaines |
Maryland’s highest court has ruled that a Baltimore County officer who shot and injured a 5-year-old boy in a 2016 standoff with his mother cannot be held liable for violating his due process rights under the 14th Amendment.
Police fatally shot Korryn Gaines after a six-hour standoff in which Gaines, accompanied by her young son Kodi, brandished a shotgun at officers from inside her Randallstown apartment. Kodi was struck by a bullet police fired through a wall that ricocheted and hit his face.
In 2018, county jurors found that it was unreasonable for Cpl. Royce Ruby to fire through the wall at Gaines and awarded her son about $32 million. After a circuit court judge overturned that verdict, years of appeals followed. A later ruling ordered the county to pay Kodi only about $400,000, plus interest.
The most recent twist in the legal saga hinged on qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects government officials from liability while performing their duties unless they violate a constitutional right that was “clearly established” law at the time.
Under the state Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday, the lower award stands.
Kodi’s lawyers said they will appeal. We’re disappointed in the five-to-two opinion, but we will be pursuing all available appellate rights, including the [U.S.] Supreme Court,” attorney Leslie D. Hershfield said Wednesday.
Gregory Dolin, a law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said it’s difficult to say whether the nation’s high court would take up a case hinging on qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that has its critics across the ideological spectrum.
What a sad case. I don't think shooting blindly through walls is justified, particularly if an innocent child is known to be behind them. I suspect though, that in the long run, Kodi will more than get his money out of the system. I'd rather have cops have qualified immunity than prosecutors or judges.
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