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.

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.

In a letter to the media via a press release, our Ohio wrongful death lawyers wrote:

A fair and impartial investigation must be conducted into
the death of Linda Hicks, whose age and mental illness left her a particularly
vulnerable member of our community. A Lucas County grand jury decided last week
not to indict the Toledo Police Officer who shot and killed Linda Hicks on a
murder charge, but that does not mean the shooting was justified. The grand
jury only considered a murder charge and no lesser offenses. Regardless of any
criminal charges that might have been appropriate, the conduct of the officer
and the Toledo Police Department may have been negligent and a civil action for
wrongful death may be the only recourse for the family of Linda Hicks.

The Estate of Linda Hicks is being represented
by Charles Boyk and Michael Bruno of the Charles E. Boyk Law Offices, LLC, of
Toledo. Ms. Hicks’ grieving family waited patiently for the Lucas County
Prosecutor’s Office to complete its investigation, but they are left with many
questions.

Read our next blog to find out what those questions are.

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.

Two Arizona men were fatally shot in at a Wal-Mart store in 2005 by a mental patient who was supposed to be under the State’s care.

The mental patient was off of his medication at the time of the shooting, since his appointment was canceled by his care provider at ValueOptions and his medication ran out. ValueOptions held the contract for providing care to the state’s mental health patients. The paranoid schizophrenic drove to a local Wal-Mart and fatally shot the men, then drove away. A witness gathered his license plate number and called police.

Since the mental patient was a patient of the State of Arizona’s mental-health system for over 20 years, a jury found the State of Arizona and ValueOptions liable in one of the man’s deaths.  The jury awarded $36 million to the family of one of the deceased. A separate lawsuit is pending in the other wrongful death.

Our Toledo, Ohio fatal shooting lawyers handle devastating wrongful death cases like this one all of the time. If you or someone you know needs help dealing with a tragic situation like this one, contact our office to speak with an Ohio tragic accident lawyer immediately. We have also written The Ohio Wrongful Death Book, which can be ordered for FREE by contacting our office.