Post by Critique on Feb 27, 2007 1:45:07 GMT -5
February 26, 2007
By Don Dailey
SPRINGDALE, ARKANSAS – The Arkansas State Police will pay $1 million in a settlement agreement to the estate of Joseph Erin Hamley who was shot and killed by a state trooper last year in a case of mistaken identity.
The State Police admitted no wrongdoing, and the Hamley family agreed the settlement would satisfy all claims against the state.
The agreement set several stipulations the State Police must meet, the first of which was an appropriation bill for the money filed Monday in the Legislature.
If the bill is signed into law and the appropriation funded, the money would be given to the State Police. The State Police would then have to submit the settlement agreement for approval by the Department of Finance and Administration and the appropriate committees of the Legislature, before the money could be paid to Hamley’s estate, said State Police spokesman Bill Sadler.
Erin Hamley’s mother, Mary Hamley, would not discuss the settlement when reached by phone Monday.
“I can’t go into that,” was all she would say concerning the agreement, which was accepted in probate proceedings and sealed by a judge in Washington County on Feb. 15. Probate case files are normally open to the public.
A copy of the agreement was provided by the Arkansas State Police.
Mary Hamley’s Fayetteville attorney W.H. Taylor did not immediately return several messages left at his office Monday.
Hamley, 21, who had cerebral palsy, never learned to read and had difficulty communicating.
State Trooper Larry Norman shot Hamley on the side of U.S. 412, west of Springdale, the morning of March 7, thinking the disabled man was Michigan prison escapee Adam Leadford. A Benton County grand jury indicted Norman in April on a misdemeanor negligent homicide charge.
The grand jury said in its report that Hamley did not obey Norman and four other police officers who responded to a possible sighting of Leadford.
He laid on his back on the ground, and Norman shot him with a shotgun as Hamley moved his arm toward his body, possibly in an effort to roll onto his stomach, the report said.
The report said Norman was on the scene for less than a minute and the lack of communication among the officers was troubling.
Sadler said that as a result of the shooting, the State Police doubled to eight the number of training hours troopers and recruits must complete in dealing with the mentally impaired.
Leadford was captured after a two-county, high-speed chase about nine hours after the Hamley shooting. He had eluded police for three days.
Police chased him into Wal-Mart Supercenter on Thompson Street in Springdale where he was shot in the face by a Springdale police officer and arrested.
No More Mistaken Identities - Critique
Leadford was sentenced last month to 30 years in prison for his actions in Benton County. He was sentenced to six years in prison on charges in Washington County.
What’s Up
Negligent Homicide Trial
Former Arkansas State Trooper Larry Norman faces one charge of misdemeanor negligent homicide in the March 2006 death of Erin Hamley.
Norman’s trial has been postponed twice, and a pretrial hearing is now planned March 26 before Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith.
Norman was granted medical retirement last summer due to the “enormous psychological overlay” of the incident, his attorney, John Everett of Fayetteville, has said.
If found guilty, Norman could face up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/02/26/news/022707azhamleysettlement.txt
By Don Dailey
SPRINGDALE, ARKANSAS – The Arkansas State Police will pay $1 million in a settlement agreement to the estate of Joseph Erin Hamley who was shot and killed by a state trooper last year in a case of mistaken identity.
The State Police admitted no wrongdoing, and the Hamley family agreed the settlement would satisfy all claims against the state.
The agreement set several stipulations the State Police must meet, the first of which was an appropriation bill for the money filed Monday in the Legislature.
If the bill is signed into law and the appropriation funded, the money would be given to the State Police. The State Police would then have to submit the settlement agreement for approval by the Department of Finance and Administration and the appropriate committees of the Legislature, before the money could be paid to Hamley’s estate, said State Police spokesman Bill Sadler.
Erin Hamley’s mother, Mary Hamley, would not discuss the settlement when reached by phone Monday.
“I can’t go into that,” was all she would say concerning the agreement, which was accepted in probate proceedings and sealed by a judge in Washington County on Feb. 15. Probate case files are normally open to the public.
A copy of the agreement was provided by the Arkansas State Police.
Mary Hamley’s Fayetteville attorney W.H. Taylor did not immediately return several messages left at his office Monday.
Hamley, 21, who had cerebral palsy, never learned to read and had difficulty communicating.
State Trooper Larry Norman shot Hamley on the side of U.S. 412, west of Springdale, the morning of March 7, thinking the disabled man was Michigan prison escapee Adam Leadford. A Benton County grand jury indicted Norman in April on a misdemeanor negligent homicide charge.
The grand jury said in its report that Hamley did not obey Norman and four other police officers who responded to a possible sighting of Leadford.
He laid on his back on the ground, and Norman shot him with a shotgun as Hamley moved his arm toward his body, possibly in an effort to roll onto his stomach, the report said.
The report said Norman was on the scene for less than a minute and the lack of communication among the officers was troubling.
Sadler said that as a result of the shooting, the State Police doubled to eight the number of training hours troopers and recruits must complete in dealing with the mentally impaired.
Leadford was captured after a two-county, high-speed chase about nine hours after the Hamley shooting. He had eluded police for three days.
Police chased him into Wal-Mart Supercenter on Thompson Street in Springdale where he was shot in the face by a Springdale police officer and arrested.
No More Mistaken Identities - Critique
Leadford was sentenced last month to 30 years in prison for his actions in Benton County. He was sentenced to six years in prison on charges in Washington County.
What’s Up
Negligent Homicide Trial
Former Arkansas State Trooper Larry Norman faces one charge of misdemeanor negligent homicide in the March 2006 death of Erin Hamley.
Norman’s trial has been postponed twice, and a pretrial hearing is now planned March 26 before Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith.
Norman was granted medical retirement last summer due to the “enormous psychological overlay” of the incident, his attorney, John Everett of Fayetteville, has said.
If found guilty, Norman could face up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/02/26/news/022707azhamleysettlement.txt