Lawsuit filed by family of man
The mother and brother of a man who died after being escorted out of a River Falls bar by bouncers have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the business.
Joseph R. Roscoe, 43, River Falls, died Feb. 27, 2007 — 10 days after being found unconscious in the alley behind The Library, 106 N. Main St.
The civil suit was filed in Pierce County last week by Janice Roscoe, Two Harbors, Minn., and Mark Woodard, Omaha, Neb., against bartender/manager Edward Roughton, 105 Elm St., River Falls, and The Library bar.
According to the complaint, on Feb. 17, 2007, Roscoe was a customer at The Library and “became obviously intoxicated.”
According to the complaint, bouncers attempted to escort him out. The suit says they were negligent in causing or allowing Roscoe “to trip, fall or stumble multiple times, hitting his head on the floor and pavement and sustaining other serious injuries causing his death.”
According to reports taken by police shortly after the incident, bouncers said Roscoe was drunk, caused a disturbance and was kicked out of the bar.
Roscoe was comatose after the incident and suffered a blood clot in his brain and a stroke after being hospitalized. He died Feb. 27 at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
Police Chief Roger Leque said no criminal charges were filed in connection with the injury and death.
“We did an extensive and thorough investigation and referred (the results) to the Pierce County district attorney for review, but no charges were filed,” Leque said Monday.
According to the civil lawsuit, Roscoe’s medical expenses exceeded $200,000 and he suffered pain and emotional distress before he died.
The suit also says his family incurred costs for medical expenses for his last illness and funeral costs in excess of $50,000.
The suit alleges bar managers were negligent in hiring, training, supervising and keeping staff and negligent in maintaining the premises.
According to city records, The Library is owned by S&T River Falls LLC. S&T’s president and agent is Stephanie Roughton.
Roscoe came to River Falls the summer before his death for alcohol treatment at Kinnic Falls Halfway House. He also did odd jobs in construction around town.
Lawsuit filed in Crandon deaths
CRANDON — The parents of four of the six young people killed in a shooting rampage by an off-duty deputy have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
The lone survivor, 21-year-old Charlie Neitzel, who is seeking compensation for the "severe and permanent injuries" he suffered, also filed suit.
The lawsuits, which were filed last week and amended Monday with a minor correction, stem from an Oct. 7, 2007, shooting. Tyler Peterson, 20, a Forest County sheriff's deputy and part-time Crandon police officer, shot and killed six people after an argument at his ex-girlfriend's home. He used a police-issued AR-15.
The claims specifically name Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, Forest County Sheriff Keith Van Cleve, as well as the city, the county and their insurance companies.
The victims' families accuse them of being negligent in their supervision of Peterson and failing to investigate complaints that he had abused suspects.
"There was a known danger in that the departments were aware of Tyler Peterson's propensity toward violence and his history of anger-control issues. Nonetheless they continued to allow him to carry a firearm and … didn't do any kind of follow up to determine this level of danger," Peg Lautenschlager, the attorney for the four families and Neitzel, told The Post-Crescent on Monday.
Lautenschlager, a former Wisconsin attorney general, represents the families of four of the six victims who were killed: Katrina McCorkle, 18; Bradley Schultz, 20; Lindsey Stahl, 14; and Lianna Thomas, 17.
The parents of victim Jordanne Murray, 18, filed notices of circumstances of claim — a necessary precursor to a civil suit — earlier this year. Their attorney, David Blau, did not return voicemail or e-mail messages Monday seeking an update on their plans.
The family of shooting victim Aaron Smith, 20, never filed notices.
Paul Payant, the attorney for Forest County, did not return a phone message. His office said he was in court all Monday afternoon.
Exonerees hope to find strength in numbers
The Wisconsin Innocence Project (WIP) does not offer formalized services to exonerees, because that’s not its area of training or expertise.
“But it depends on the individual case,” says WIP co-director, Professor Keith A. Findley.
“We do what we can. We don’t want to be like the rest of the system, and just say, ‘Good luck. Have a great life.’”
In the legal arena, the WIP has attempted to helped exonerees obtain health insurance, in addition to handling appeals of public-housing denials. But it doesn’t represent exonerees in civil wrongful-conviction lawsuits or before the Claims Board. They’ve also organized fundraisers for individuals.
Mary C. Delaney and Sheila Sullivan were law students who worked on Evan Zimmerman’s case with the WIP. Zimmerman was freed in 2005 after three years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Post-exoneration, he was unable to find employment or get health insurance. He died in 2007.
Since Delaney and Sullivan graduated, they’ve continued to volunteer for the WIP. Among their current projects is the organization of the Wisconsin Exonoree Network, or WEN, earlier this year. So far, it has brought together about 20 persons, exonerees and those who want to help them, such as lawyers, mental health professionals and social workers.
They’ve had two in-person meetings.
The idea had been discussed prior to Zimmerman’s death, and it came from the exonerees themselves, says Sullivan. Some of them have gotten involved in national exonoree networks, such as the Life After Exoneration Program (Exonerated.org), based in Berkeley, Calif. They proposed setting up a similar, local group. Many of them knew Zimmerman, and they’re getting together to honor his memory, and to effect positive change in his name.
While WEN’s goals are just being established, so far, providing support is a top priority.
The exonerees can share experiences, problem-solve and just empathize with one another. Also, they can meet professionals willing to serve them, pro bono. Sullivan hopes that, the more the word gets out about WEN, the more volunteers there will be, in locales other than just Milwaukee and Madison. Also, the more the word gets out, perhaps more exonerees will come forward. Some wrongly convicted people are freed without the WIP’s help, but there’s really no way of identifying them.
The group is also exploring the possibility of applying for grant dollars from public and private sources, says Delaney, to help the exonerees with the most critical needs.
Delaney anticipates that WEN members will get involved in the forthcoming efforts to update Wisconsin’s Compensation for Innocent Convicts statute.
Making that happen will likely require some education of the general public about the serious difficulties exonerees face — and that will be achieved by exonerees telling their stories.
“We want people to think, ‘That could’ve been me,’ and to think about the value of their own lives, and what it what it would mean to them if they lost the years between 20 and 30. When they start to really think about that, that’s when they realize what an irrevocable wound a wrongful conviction is.”