re: For Alton Sterling's 5 children, Baton Rouge Metro Council will consider a $5M settlement

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shite.

A Baton Rouge jury would give them $5 million EACH.

Cut your losses. Cut OUR losses. Take the deal.

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While I’m not convinced this is true, I do think you touched on a key point in all of this. Any decision to settle this case should be made based on recommendations from parish attorney’s office. Not Chauna Banks. Not protestors. Not SWB. The only reason for the city-parish to settle, in my opinion, is if the attorneys feel that it’s prudent in terms of risk/reward compared to trial. Otherwise, you might as well put a “pay $5MM to Alton Sterling’s family” ordinance on the fricking ballot and let the parish vote.

Honestly, I could make the argument that the government should never settle any civil case. It seems like an ethical clusterfrick to do so. If the city has a strong case, you’re pissing away taxpayer dollars. If the city is going to get destroyed when the evidence/testimony comes to light, the public deserves to know the facts of the case and the family deserves the higher judgement they would presumably be awarded.

I don’t see how back room settlement negotiations, paying off the family and avoiding bad publicity for the city, serve the public interest at all. The family is saying that BRPD’s poor training and procedures led to Sterling’s death. If that’s true, isn’t it important for the supporting facts to be revealed at trial?