Second in a series
Re “Harris Family Rejects Settlement and Fires Attorney”
[Editor’s Note: In a civil case dispute, it was incorrectly reported last Friday that the family of murder victim JoAnn Crystal Harris fired its attorney. In fact, Robert McNeill Jr., the attorney, quit the case.]
With unease growing palpably in the Martha Harris family over the star attorney who had been hired three years ago to represent them in civil proceedings — not long after daughter and sister JoAnn Crystal Harris was bludgeoned to death in the Culver City National Guard Armory — a showdown loomed last week.
Mrs. Harris’s devoted, take-charge son, Gerald Bennett, arrived at her hospital bed near downtown Los Angeles around 10:30 last Thursday morning.
Turmoil had churned through the family for four days, ever since the lawyer, Robert McNeill Jr., had left a courtroom on the first day of what was to be a jury trial in a negligence case against the state, to visit the severely ailing 71-year-old Mrs. Harris for a crucial verdict on what may have been a onetime offer. Mrs/ Harris is recovering from two surgeries. Her degree of coherence was and is debatable, according to her family. Mr. Bennett said he and a sister used the strongest terms to discourage the lawyer from visiting his mother.
“She was not capable of making a decision,” said her son, let alone a monumental one.
Mr. McNeill, who went against the family’s wishes and came to Mrs. Harris’s bedside anyway, urged her to approve of a $400,000 settlement offered by an attorney from the state Attorney General’s office. Originally, Mr. Bennett said, Mr. McNeill told the family he believed he could gain an award close to $4 million. By certified mail from Mr. McNeill’s office, Mrs. Harris was informed that after lawyer costs and court fees had been subtracted from the present compromise, her share was a modest $175,000 before taxes.
After leaving Mrs. Harris, Mr. McNeill returned to the courtroom, told his opposite number, David Addida, their agreement was on, and informed Judge Kevin C. Brazile at 2 o’clock on Monday afternoon.
From the moment he learned of Mr. McNeill’s actions, Mr. Bennett said he, his sister and his mother all were steamed, infuriated. Such was his frame of mind when he telephoned Mr. McNeill from his mother’s hospital room late Thursday morning. The son put his mother on the line. A soft-spoken woman under optimal conditions, Mrs. Harris strained to make herself heard while simultaneously hoping to conserve her minimal strength on one of the most important calls of her life.
Speaking haltingly, she went directly to her intended bullseye: “I don’t want to accept the $400,000,” she said succinctly. “You know, I don’t want to accept that.”
Mr. McNeill, who doubtless knew the intended trajectory of the call, did not initially articulate disappointment or surprise. He said he would tell the court and Mr. Addida of her decision. Without affecting his cadence or tone, Mr. McNeill said, evenly, that he disagreed with decision. “I believe your son has put you up to this,” he reportedly told her. The lawyer branded the verbal reversal “an unfortunate mistake that you are making.”
The attorney assured his client that “the only reason” he recommended embracing the $400,000 settlement was that he realized that, if rejected, “there was a substantial chance” Mrs. Harris would not receive any money.
(To be continued)
