According to the Jere Beasley report, a young woman from Florence, Alabama was murdered while on a business trip in Knoxville, Tennessee, during her stay at a local Days Inn Motel.

A motel employee allegedly strangled Jennifer Lee Hampton after sexually assaulting her. The employee used the hotel’s master key to enter Ms. Hampton’s room and a week later Jennifer’s body was found in a nearby lake.

The family of Jennifer Hampton filed suit against the motel in Knoxville. They are accusing the motel of negligence for allowing employees to have master keys to the guest rooms, as well as hiring illegal immigrants, and their failure to perform background checks. Following this incident, the Days Inn franchise changed their name to AmeriStay Hotel and Suites. Alongside the lawsuit against Days Inn franchise, the accused employee is also being charged with murder.

Our Toledo, Ohio wrongful death lawyers handle cases involving death by murder on a regular basis. If you or someone you know has suffered the loss of a loved one due to tragic circumstances, contact our office today at 800.637.8170 for your free consultation and case evaluation, as well as a copy of The Ohio Wrongful Death Book.

Our attorneys see cases on a regular basis where families have lost loved ones to tragic circumstances.

Recently the family of Arizona resident Patrick Graham was awarded $36 million in damages for his 2005 shooting death by a mental patient in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Peoria, AZ. The state court jury found that ValueOptions Inc., the company that held that contract with the state to provide behaviorial healthcare until 2007, was 90% at fault in the shootings of both Patrick Graham and another employee of Wal-Mart, Anthony Spangler.

Ed Liu, a patient of ValueOptions Inc. had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and been a patient in the state’s mental health system for more than 20 years. According to Jere Beasley, “based on trial testimony, he [Liu] was conscientious in managing those medications.”

However, in December 2004, Liu’s care provider noted that his condition was becoming more severe and despite this fact, his appointment for the following month was cancelled. It wasn’t until May 2005 that ValueOptions sent an employee to knock on his door to check on him. Liu failed to answer the door and called the next day to state that he wanted to get back on his medications, yet once again he did not show up for his June 2005 appointment.

In August 2005 Mr. Liu purchased a Glock semiautomatic pistol while he was “hearing voices and receiving messages from car license plates and newscasts from CNN.” It was August 23, 2005 when he drove to the Peoria Wal-Mart location and shot Mr. Graham and Mr. Spangler while they were collecting shopping carts in the parking lot. Upon his arrest, Mr. Liu had no recollection of the incident.

The State of Arizona was also held responsible. The State of Arizona settled for $250,000 and the settlement amount from Mr. Liu’s liability policy paid an amount that is being kept confidential. Mr. Graham’s widow was awarded $10 million, each of his children were awarded $10.5 million, and both of his parents were awarded $2.5 million in damages and punitive damages. ValueOptions Inc., plan to appeal this ruling.

Our Toledo, Ohio wrongful death lawyers handle cases involving tragic deaths on a regular basis. If you or someone you know has lost a loved one due to tragic circumstances, contact our office today at 800.637.8170 for your free consultation and case evaluation, or to order your free copy of The Ohio Wrongful Death Book.

The following Toledo Blade story highlights whether or not Officer Chandler should have been allowed out on the streets so early after the fatal police shooting of Linda Hicks.

The 18-year-old boy who was struck by Officer Chandler’s police cruiser is represented by our Toledo, Ohio pedestrian car accident lawyers and we were were interested to read the following article in the Toledo Blade:

Six weeks after Officer Diane Chandler shot and killed a 62-year-old woman with mental illness who tried to attack her with scissors, the Toledo police officer struck a theft suspect with her cruiser.

Officer Chandler was unable to control her vehicle on the ice and struck Mr. Lewis, said Dan Wagner, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman’s Association union.Officer Chandler, 33, spent this week trailing police investigators and has agreed to join a program that will keep her off patrol for one to three months as she shadows Toledo Police detectives, authorities said.

“I chose to then remove myself from the streets…,” Mr. Wagner said, adding that he spent two months shadowing police detectives. “You don’t want to deal with the public scrutiny when you are dealing with the day to day.”

He said he advised Officer Chandler to do the same. “I thought she returned to the streets a little too early,” Mr. Wagner said.

If you or someone you know has been injured in an Ohio pedestrian car accident, order your free copy of The Ohio Accident Book by calling our Toledo, Ohio pedestrian car accident lawyers at 800.637.8170.

Less than six weeks after Toledo Police Officer Diane Chandler shot and killed Linda Hicks, she is accused of running over a suspect with her police cruiser.

Our Toledo, Ohio pedestrian car accident lawyers represent the 18-year-old victim, Nathaniel Lewis, who was allegedly running from police but had come to a stop, was at a stand still when witnesses say Officer Chandler struck the boy at a high rate of speed with no attempt to stop the car. The road conditions were clear and free of snow and ice, and were not a factor in the accident.

The victim was taken to St. Vincent’s Mercy Medical Center, where he was kept overnight, suffering from a serious closed-head injury, where he was in stable condition.

If you or someone you know has suffered serious injury due to an Ohio pedestrian car accident, call 800.637.8170 for your free copy of The Ohio Accident Book.

Our Toledo, Ohio fatal shooting attorneys want the public and the media to question whether or not the investigation of the Linda Hicks fatal shooting is impartial. Some of the unanswered questions regarding that case are:

1. Why didn’t the responding officers simply close the door to Ms. Hicks’ room? This would have prevented her from charging them with scissors, which is the stated reason for shooting her.

2. Why did the officers use a Taser gun on an elderly woman with a pacemaker, and did the use of the Taser escalate the situation?

3. Why didn’t the officers secure Ms. Hicks’ room and wait for people better equipped to handle the situation in a way that minimized the chances for Ms. Hicks or the officers to be injured?

4. Did the officers act in a reckless or negligent way given the facts known to them before they responded to the situation?

The Toledo Police plan to submit the shooting to the Firearm Review Board to determine if the officers’ actions were justified. This is an internal process where the police essentially investigate themselves. Ms. Hicks’ family members call on Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and the Toledo Police Department to release all of the documents related to her shooting so the public can determine whether the police acted appropriately. We make no allegation of fault at this time, but in the interest of full disclosure, the public has a right to know all of the facts.

If you have lost a loved one due to tragic circumstances, contact our Ohio fatal accident lawyers at 800.637.8170 for your free copy of The Ohio Wrongful Death Book.