[7/30/03]Survivors of a man fatally shot by a Warren County deputy sheriff nine months ago have filed an expected suit against the county, demanding money damages.

The suit claims Deputy Lionel Johnson was negligent in shooting and killing Jimmie Taylor II, who was 22, on Oct. 26. It asks for $5 million on behalf of Johnson’s mother, Claudia Taylor, and others who were not named.

It was filed Monday, 10 days after a county grand jury reported on its review of a state investigation into the case and found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing sufficient to indict Johnson.

Notice that the suit would be filed came months ago when the county received a letter giving it the required 90 days’ notice that such a claim was to be filed.

The suit was filed in Warren County Circuit Court by attorneys Drayton D. Berkley of Memphis and Marshall Sanders of Vicksburg. Berkley is with a firm among whose title partners is Johnnie Cochran, who helped defend O.J. Simpson during his 1995 murder trial in California.

The suit names as defendants, in addition to the county government, Sheriff Martin Pace and Johnson. A judge has not been assigned.

Randy Sherard, attorney for the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said state law caps payouts on such claims against the state for negligent acts of state employees at $500,000.

Berkley said the $5 million amount was chosen because a provision of the law also allows damages to be paid up to the maximum amount of the government’s liability-insurance coverage.

The shooting occurred outside the Taylor family’s Halls Ferry Road home during a birthday party there for a younger brother of Taylor. Johnson and another deputy were dispatched due to citizen complaints of parked cars partially blocking the two-lane road.

Versions differed of what happened at the scene as events and tension escalated. The state investigation was conducted by a division of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, of which the highway patrol is also a part.

After reviewing that investigation, as presented by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, a Warren County grand jury declined to indict Johnson. That decision meant fewer than 12 of 18 grand jurors voted that enough evidence existed for a felony charge.

Johnson, suspended with pay during the investigation, said through an attorney that his act was in self-defense.

In the grand jury’s report, which it delivered on July 18, it called the investigation into the case “thorough and independent” and agreed.

“We find that Lionel Johnson justifiably acted in self-defense in the shooting of Jimmie Taylor II,” it reported.

Berkley, however, called the civil suit the Taylor family’s “last opportunity to get justice” in the case. He said the family was denied justice twice, once when Taylor was killed and again when Johnson was not indicted.

“It’s left up to us, the civil trial lawyers, to try to get some justice and relief,” he said. “We’re doing that through the process of this lawsuit.”

Warren County will have 30 days to file an answer in the case. After that, a period of motions, discovery and depositions and negotiations would normally follow. A trial in less than a year is unlikely, based on courtroom availability schedules.