Third in a series
Re “Bennett Explains Why He did Not Want a Black Attorney”
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Mr. Bennett
It vexes Gerald Bennett, brother of a murder victim, that the mother of Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless man killed by Fullerton police, accepted a $1million settlement from the city less than a year later while his family remains entangled financially almost six years later.
“His mother did not go through half of what my poor mother went through,” he said.
Presently the target of a defamation and libel lawsuit filed last year by the family’s original attorney, Robert H. McNeill, for $200,000, Mr. Bennett says he does not even have a lawyer to respond to the charge.
Further, he brings a stack of boiling grievances against Mr. McNeill, whom he says repeatedly did not keep promises.
“He did not sue nobody in Culver City, as he said he would,” Mr. Bennett said. “He came back with an outlandish number for my mom, saying he could only get her $400,000. My mother is like, ‘This is not even about the compensation part. This is about what happened to my child.’
“My mother died (three years ago this summer) without seeing a penny of her daughter being murdered.
[img]1967|right|Mr. McNeill||no_popup[/img]“McNeill is a sellout. He did what was best for his pocket, for his prestige. He got with the government (David Adida, a lawyer in the state Attorney General’s office), and he made a deal. He said ‘Look, I’ll hold this case up in such a way that you won’t be held responsible to compensate this family with a lot of money.’
“Then McNeill didn’t even sue the Culver City Police Dept.
“I have it on paper, in our retainer agreement, that he was going to sue the Culver City Police Dept.
“He broke the contract, not me. On that note alone, he was fired.”
Mr. McNeill’s firm has declined to comment.
(To be continued)
