The jury ordered chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman, 69, to pay damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, on Jan. 6, 2021.
A federal jury on Monday awarded $500,000 to the widow and estate of a police officer who killed himself nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of rioters, including a man who scuffled with the officer during the attack.
The eight-member jury ordered that man, 69-year-old chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman, to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $60,000 in compensatory damages to Erin Smith for assaulting her husband, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They awarded an additional $60,000 to compensate Jeffrey Smith’s estate for his pain and suffering.
The judge presiding over the civil trial dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death claim against Walls-Kaufman before jurors began deliberating last week. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said no reasonable juror could conclude that Walls-Kaufman’s actions were capable of causing a traumatic brain injury leading to Smith’s death.
President can’t pardon civil crimes. That’s how they got OJ. Not in criminal court, but civil.
Pedantry warning, but I think this distinction is useful: The phrase “civil crime” doesn’t really exist. You can have a crime, you can have a civil case, or you can have both; but they are separate things.
Criminal court is where the government prosecutes someone for allegedly breaking the law (committing a crime). A pardon wipes out the government-imposed consequences of that crime.
Civil court is for legal disputes between parties. It’s not about punishing crimes but about one party seeking restitution from another. Sometimes that stems from a crime, but the civil case stands on its own.
So even if a crime is pardoned, the door stays open for civil lawsuits over the same event. (This is repeating your point. My beef was just the “civil crimes” phrase!)