Settlement Declined in Clint John Lawsuit

WINDOW ROCK, Oct. 30, 2008

A wrongful death lawsuit appears headed for trial after the Farmington City Council declined to act on the settlement negotiated by its lawyers and lawyers for the family of Clint John, who was 21 when he was fatally shot by a city policeman in 2006.

The council's failure to approve the settlement, which was presented in executive session late Tuesday night and was on the meeting agenda for a vote, is tantamount to turning it down, although no one with the city is willing to comment.

Officer Shawn Scott, who since has been promoted to sergeant by his department, shot John four times on June 10, 2006, in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Farmington.

An investigation by the San Juan County Sheriff's Department found that lethal force was justified, and the county attorney declined bring charges against Scott. The U.S. Civil Rights Commission also declined to intervene.

In 2007, John's mother Della, his girlfriend Lynn Negale, and their daughter Mikayla Hayes filed a wrongful death complaint naming Scott, former Farmington police Chief Mike Burridge and the city of Farmington as defendants.

On Wednesday, Katherine A. Burke, one of three attorneys representing the John family, said the city's attorney, Luis Robles, informed her that the council had turned down the settlement.

Burke said she didn't know why the council rejected the settlement because she was not present during its closed door meeting with Robles.

She added that since the settlement was discussed in executive session, she could not release it.

At print time on Wednesday, Robles, who is with the Albuquerque law firm of Robles, Rael & Anaya, had not return telephone messages from the Navajo Times.

Burke said the attorneys plan to meet today, Oct. 30, with U.S. District Judge Bruce Black to discuss the Nov. 17 trial date and possibly set a new date.

She said that a later date would be requested because of family medical issues involving one of the plaintiffs' attorneys.

Burke explained that the settlement was finalized at an Oct. 23 meeting attended by the attorneys and Black. That meeting was prompted by Robles' meeting two days earlier with the city council, she said.

She noted that the plaintiffs were not part of the Oct. 21 meeting.

The attorneys for the John family are Burke, former Navajo Nation attorney Steven C. Boos, now in private practice in Durango, Colo., and Bobby Duthie, also of Durango.

John's survivors are seeking unspecified compensatory and non-economic damages, punitive damages against Scott, plaintiffs' costs, attorneys' fees and any other relief that the court might provide.

The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss all claims, and that is where the matter has stood as settlement negotiations were underway.

According to the lawsuit, both parties agreed that on June 10, 2006, John, Negale and Mikayla, who was 4 at the time, were at Wal-Mart in Farmington buying items for Mikayla's birthday party.

As the group checked out, John grew angry at Negale and when they reached the pickup truck in the parking lot, he began throwing their bags into the truck bed. Negale asked him to stop and an argument ensured.

John began hitting Negale in the face repeatedly and Negale attempted to call 911.

A passerby, Michael Lovato, saw John hitting Negale and called 911, which dispatched Farmington police officers Scott and Ernest Vigil to the scene.

Scott was the first officer on the scene, arriving at about 4:24 p.m. He parked his car in the traffic aisle, picked up his police baton and approached John. Scott did not turn on the voice and video recorder in his car, nor the voice recorder attached to his belt.

When Scott saw John, John was standing next to the pickup truck's open passenger-side door. Negale was sitting on the seat.

Within 30 seconds after Scott first saw John, Scott shot John three times in the body and once in the head. John died of his wounds.

Other circumstances surrounding the incident are contested and would be the subject of testimony in the event of a trial.

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