The civil case that the mother of pregnant murder victim JoAnn Crystal Harris brought against the state of California and the National Guard, charging negligence in the crime committed by National Guardsman Scott Ansman, abruptly ended this afternoon with a settlement just before jury selection was to begin.
Robert McNeil Jr., lawyer for 71-year-old Martha Harris, and David Addida, from the state Attorney General’s office, told Judge Keith Brazile at 2 o’clock this afternoon, in chambers, that they have struck a compromise agreement.
Or do they have a deal?
The family of Ms. Harris, as represented by her brother, Gerald Bennett, says the opposite.
Mr. Bennett told the newspaper at 4:45 this afternoon that as far as he and other relatives are concerned, “There is no settlement.”
Mr. Bennett said Mr. McNeill telephoned him from a downtown Los Angeles courthouse this morning when he was at work for his opinion. He rejected the amount Mr. McNeill was proposing.
“I told (Mr. McNeill) ‘that is a low number for my mother to have lost her child and grandchild,’” Mr. Bennett said.
“He agreed with me. He said, ‘Okay, I’m going to talk to your Mom, but we are ready to go to trial.’ That is what he told me.
“He called me and he called my sister Deborah. I said ‘No,’ and from my understanding, she also said ‘no.’”
Martha Harris’s opinion is not known this afternoon.
Her son said she was hospitalized three weeks ago for throat surgery, remains a patient and is unable to speak publicly.
“I don’t know if they got to my mother because, you know, she is heavily medicated right now,” Mr. Bennett said.
“There is no way she could have agreed to a decision, and none of us was there. I don’t understand what slick stuff was going on there. But that will be rectified real soon.
“My mother is telling everybody right now she said ‘no.’ My cousin’s up there (at the hospital) now, and she said ‘no.’ My sister’s up there, and she said ‘no.’ So I don’t know how (a settlement) happened.”
Mr. McNeill does.
When he and the defense attorney, Mr. Addida, spoke to Judge Brazile at 9:30 this morning, Mr. McNeill said if they could be alone for about 30 minutes, he believed an agreement could be struck.
When the two returned at 10 o’clock, they said they were close but needed a little more time. Judge Brazile directed them to come back to his courtroom at 2.
As a clock chimed 2, Judge Brazile appeared, summoned them to his chambers, and five minutes later both attorneys emerged, and left the courtroom without further comment.
Outside the courtroom door, Mr. McNeill said, “We have reached a settlement with the state of California and the California Army National Guard on behalf of Martha Harris.”
What does the deal amount to?
“We don’t want to discuss the amount right now,” he said. “We want to wait until we get the money in 30 to 45 days.”
How close is the settlement to the figure you sought coming in?
“We think it is reasonable.” Still later this afternoon when Mr. McNeil was reached in his office, he was asked where matters stand in light of Mr. Bennett’s comments.
“I can’t discuss that,” he said, adding, significantly:
“Nothing has changed since I last talked with you.”
