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The Fresno City Council is scheduled to discuss the lawsuit involving a 16-year old boy shot and killed by Fresno police in 2017 during closed session at the Nov. 7 meeting.
It will be the first time that council members formally discuss the lawsuit since a video of the incident was released last week.
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A mandatory court settlement conference between the parties is scheduled for Dec. 3.
But the attorney representing Murrietta-Golding’s mother says they may not accept any deals.
“I don’t know if (the city is) able to pay enough money in this case because it is so egregious,” said attorney Michael J. Haddad, who represents the mother, Christina Pauline Lopez.
Haddad was president of the National Police Accountability Project from 2010 to 2015.
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Haddad, based out of Oakland, is rated as a “Super Lawyer,” in part because of his history of winning large settlements for his clients. Among his professional highlights: an $8.3 million settlement in Alameda County for an in-custody jail death; a $6.7 million settlement against the city of Santa Clara; and even a case in Fresno.
In 2016, the city of Fresno paid a Haddad client, the family of Jaime Reyes, $2.2 million. Police shot and killed Reyes in 2012. Officers said Reyes fled from them to an occupied schoolyard while armed.
Following the settlement, then Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer told The Fresno Bee that “this tragic shooting was legally justified and settlement should not be viewed as an indication that this view has changed.”
Haddad said that as part of the settlement the police department agreed to change its use-of-force policy.
Chandler, a longtime Fresno attorney, represented the mother of Dylan Noble and won a $2.8 million settlement (shared with Noble’s father who filed his own lawsuit). Police killed Noble after a traffic stop in 2016. Video from the Noble shooting attracted national attention.
Related Story: City Pays $2.8 Million in Shooting Death of Dylan Noble
David Taub has spent most of his career in journalism behind the scenes working as a TV assignment editor and radio producer. For more than a decade, he has worked in the Fresno market with such stops at KSEE-24, KMJ and Power Talk 96.7. Taub also worked the production and support side of some of TV sports biggest events including the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals and NASCAR to name a few. Taub graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email
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