Taxpayers are going to pay a lot more.
Sure looks like a lot of cops shot guys in black leather outfits.
This will bankrupt Waco.
“This will bankrupt Waco.”
If in the end, it turns out that this was a setup and the Waco cops had themselves a shooting gallery, then Waco should go bankrupt! And with that bankruptcy there needs to be a parallel prosecution of the cops, the sheriff, the DA’s Office, and the local courts. The “good people” of Waco need to have it all laid out in front of them and the world to see. Those who actually formulated the plan need to go to jail for a very long time.
Courts are mindful of the stakes, and if the state screws up big enough, plaintiffs will lose. If the incident involves only one plaintiff, the judges are more comfortable finding wrongdoing by the state (assuming there is in fact wrongdoing) because the damages are contained and manageable. Big and costly mistakes bring out the heavy legal mumbo-jumbo, and the state wins.
Courts are outcome driven, not precedent or justice driven.