Posted on 11/08/2002 3:54:54 AM PST by Truth Telling Guy
Defense Rests in Florida Gun Trial
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)--A lawsuit against the distributor of a handgun known as the ``Saturday Night Special''--filed by the widow of a slain middle school teacher--is heading to the jury.
Defense attorneys for Valor Corp. rested their case Thursday, after insisting the Raven handgun used to kill teacher Barry Grunow is not a defective product. The jury is expected to begin deliberations next week.
Grunow's widow, Pam Grunow, is seeking $75 million in damages because she alleges the gun, known as a ``Saturday Night Special'' because of its small size and low cost, is unreasonably dangerous and should have safety devices that would prevent its use by minors.
``Nothing went wrong with this Raven,'' said Valor attorney Jeff Cohen. ``Unfortunately, it worked exactly as designed.''
Nathaniel Brazill was 13 when he fatally shot Barry Grunow in a school hallway in May 2000. Brazill, now 16, was convicted last year of second-degree murder and is serving a 28-year prison term.
The case has drawn national attention because it is the first to address both the absence of a gun lock and the flaws associated with a cheap, easily concealable weapon that looks like a toy.
AP-NY-11-08-02 0526EST
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Defense rests in gun liability lawsuit
By Bill Douthat, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Friday, November 8, 2002
WEST PALM BEACH -- The defense rested Thursday in the product liability lawsuit against gun distributor Valor Corp., allowing the case to go to the jury next week.
Valor is being sued for $75 million by Pam Grunow for selling the gun used by a student to kill her teacher husband, Barry Grunow.
Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga said he probably would allow the jury decide whether the student, Nathaniel Brazill, shot Grunow intentionally or accidentally.
If jurors find it was an accidental shooting, as Brazill has claimed, the jury could assign part of the negligence to Brazill and reduce the amount Valor would pay.
Bob Montgomery, Pam Grunow's attorney, said he is confident the jury will decide the shooting was intentional, removing Brazill as a potential negligent party.
Still, Labarga could decide to add the gun's owner, Elmore McCray, and the Palm Beach County School District to the verdict form. Brazill took the gun from an unlocked drawer in McCray's home.
Valor attorneys say the school district should be held partly responsible for Grunow's death because Brazill was able to return to the Lake Worth Middle School campus after he was sent home for throwing water balloons.
Over Valor's objections, the judge will instruct jurors that the.25-caliber Raven handgun used in the murder has been considered among the small, cheap guns known as Saturday night specials.
Valor's attorneys say the term is prejudicial to their defense. The Sunrise-based gun distributor claims the Raven handgun is not a defective product.
"Nothing went wrong with this Raven," said Valor attorney Jeff Cohen. "Unfortunately, it worked exactly as designed."
bill_douthat@pbpost.com
You see, the liberals hold this racist, classist stereotype where it's merely uncomfortable for them to have rich Joe Yuppie to carrying his $500 Glock around, but it's absolutely terrrifiying for them to have poor black Leroy Washington or poor brown Jose Jimenez packing their $50 Raven .25 auto. I mean, surely this ghetto trash will down a few '40s' of malt liquor or a few shots of cheap tequilia on Saturday night, and end up killing a few people in a barfight over some hoar, or robbing & shooting some innocent person in a alcohol- and/or drug-induced haze. This bigotted, offensive view of the poor is where the term 'Saturday Night Special' comes from.
So next time you hear a liberal using the term 'Saturady Night Special', get outraged and indignantly call them on their racism. I've done this several times, and left the liberal idiots sputtering in embarassment. I just love using their own political correctness against them. ;^)
For info on the historical, and bigoted, origin of the term 'Saturday Night Special' see Bill Levinson's The Stentorian.
Could have been overheard at a Klan meeting
"Hey there, Billy Jeff! How is the gun control legislation going?""Pretty good, Fleagle the Kleagle. We're passing laws to restrict or ban inexpensive handguns that are often purchased by the 'wrong' elements of society, if you get my meaning."
"Sure do, Billy Jefferson. It would be pretty bad if, the next time we decided to lynch a [Black] or maybe hitch him to the back of a pickup truck and give him a nice ride the way they did in Jasper, Texas, he was to pull one of them 'Saturday Night Specials' and shoot hisself some of the good old boys!"
"You mean 'N****rtown Saturday Night Specials,' don't you, Fleagle the Kleagle? That's what we called them back in the 19th century."
"'N****rtown Saturday Night Specials' is right, Billy Jeff. Them 'liberals' think us good old boys is ignorant white trash, but they don't even know the racist origin of one of their favorite buzzwords! Sounds like they're the ignorant ones."
The creatures pressing these absurd allegations know full well the truth of the matter. Their agenda is to disarm the law-abiding civilian populace, leaving government and it's agents with a monopoly on lethal force. Any angle, any opportunity will suffice.
Once you understand this agenda, their actions become very clear, and quite predictable.
I wouldn't think that Pam Grunow would care about the ultimate agenda though...so she just must be an (ignorant/greedy/revengeful) pawn.
No better than a worm.
By no means. It is quite clear that the radical leftists will utilize any and every opportunity presented them, as well as lie, cheat, steal, even kill to further their statist agenda. Anything they can get away with.
Exactly!
Within very sharply-defined limits, yes.
But the defense does not get to "Instruct" the jury.
I'm orginaly from Kankakee 60 Miles south of Chicago. I know how wacky the gun laws are in IL, Home of F.O.I.D. Drove me nuts. Thats one reason I live in FL now
Bob Montgomery, Pam Grunow's attorney, said he is confident the jury will decide the shooting was intentional, removing Brazill as a potential negligent party.
Ok, all together now ... 1, 2, 3 ... roll your eyes.
That's why I say this would be overturned on appeal if the plantif prevails. The facts of the case do not, under any circumstance, show that Raven was negligent. For a judgement to stand, the facts have to at least show something. The plantif admits that the perp committed an intentional act. There is no concept of law that lets someone collect damages under "negligence" from a third party where there was an intentional act. The case shouldn't have even been allowed in the first place.
Many years ago I knew a guy that made one-shot .22s the size of a ball point pen to be carried in the shirt pocket. I'll bet a little research would reveal the plans.
From the above:
"Since Raven Arms has long been out of business, Grunow is now going after Valor Corp., a Sunrise-based distributor of firearms. Valor sold the Raven .25 used in Grunow’s death to Hypoluxo Pawn Shop, which sold it to Elmore McCray, Brazill’s surrogate grandfather.
Having already settled with Hypoluxo and McCray, Grunow now wants Valor to be punished, claiming the company sold an inherently unsafe and defective product. In Florida, a distributor or dealer can be held as liable as a manufacturer, so the lawsuit is plausible."
That - and because Florida statewide is a conservative state, with likely-conservative appellate courts. This case doesn't even meet the "but for" essential element of proximate cause; there's no proof that the absence of a cheap .25 would have kept this twerp from either finding a better gun to shoot that teacher with - or that he wouldn't have stabbed that teacher to death.
There is such a long line of appellate cases holding that gunmakers aren't liable to crime victims that federal judges actually read it into the record when dismissing such cases.
Scandals of antigun politicians - from Kalifornia to Manhattan!
Bob Montgomery, Pam Grunow's attorney, said he is confident the jury will decide the shooting was intentional, removing Brazill as a potential negligent party.
Witness the intentional inversion of justice. Bob Montgomery can kiss his career good-bye.
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