Officer Liable in Student's Killing
Pr. George's Jurors Award $3.7 Million

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 20, 2006

A Prince George's County undercover narcotics police corporal who followed an unarmed college student to Fairfax County and fatally shot him more than five years ago was held responsible for his wrongful death yesterday by a civil jury that awarded $3.7 million in damages to the victim's daughter and parents.

After following 25-year-old Prince C. Jones Jr. from Chillum to Fairfax on Sept. 1, 2000, Cpl. Carlton B. Jones, sitting in an unmarked SUV, fired 16 shots at the student in his Jeep, hitting him eight times. Five of the shots hit Prince Jones (no relation) in the back.

The highly publicized shooting was the catalyst for a broad Justice Department investigation into allegations of brutality and racism by the county police department, which has been accused of excessive force for decades.

That investigation ended in January 2005, when the county announced an agreement with the Justice Department promising that the police department would take steps designed to reduce excessive force.

Terrell N. Roberts III, an attorney for Prince Jones Jr.'s daughter and father, noted after the verdict that the Fairfax commonwealth's attorney and the Justice Department declined to file charges against Carlton Jones, now 37, or even bring the case before a grand jury, and that Prince George's police said they found no wrongdoing by the officer.

"But a Prince George's jury concluded the officer was liable for wrongfully killing an innocent man," Roberts said. "I think some justice has been served here."

"Now he knows he did something wrong," Prince Jones Sr. said of Carlton Jones.

The jury found that Carlton Jones was negligent, used excessive force and could not have reasonably believed his actions were lawful. But it rejected a claim that the officer was liable for battery of Prince Jones, and it found that Prince Jones contributed to his death by his actions during the fatal encounter.

Carlton Jones declined to comment, saying he'd been ordered by the police department to say nothing. The corporal is now assigned to the technical services division.

The jury awarded $2.5 million in damages to Prince Jones's daughter, Nina, who is 6; $1 million to his mother, Mabel Jones; and $200,000 to his father. The jury award is one of the highest for a police misconduct lawsuit in county history.

The county paid $4.6 million in police misconduct verdicts and lawsuits in the fiscal year that ended last June; yesterday's verdict is about three-fourths of last year's total.

If the verdict stands, the county will have paid out more than $20 million in jury awards and settlements since 2000 in lawsuits alleging misconduct by county police officers.

The county indemnifies police officers for their actions in the line of duty, defends officers against civil lawsuits connected to their police actions and pays jury awards and settlements in such cases. Officers pay nothing.

County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), who promised to combat excessive force by county police during his successful 2002 campaign, said through a spokesman yesterday: "We understand the jury's decision. Constitutionally, we are bound by jurors' decisions and have to support them."

Asked if that meant the county would not appeal the verdict, Johnson spokesman John E. Erzen referred the question to County Attorney David Whitacre, who declined to comment. Circuit Court Judge James J. Lombardi scheduled a Feb. 17 hearing for post-trial motions.

The shooting occurred during a 13-month period in which county police officers shot 12 people, killing five. Two other people died in police custody during that time.

At a memorial service for Prince Jones at Howard University, where he was a student, then-Vice President Al Gore spoke and called for a moment of silence. The NAACP demonstrated against the decision by Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. not to prosecute Carlton Jones.

In 2002, Prince George's prosecutors said they were dropping all criminal cases in which Carlton Jones was a key state witness, saying they could not vouch for his veracity. He was disciplined by the police department for lying to internal affairs investigators about an untruthful charging document he'd sworn out against a suspect in a 1997 gun case, attorneys for Prince Jones said.

The officer shot Prince Jones about 3 a.m. Sept. 1, 2000.

Cpl. Jones testified in the civil trial that he followed Prince Jones because he was conducting surveillance in connection with a probe into the theft of a service weapon from another officer's car.

Carlton Jones testified that the black Jeep Cherokee that Prince Jones was driving was similar to the vehicle a suspect in the gun theft was known to drive, though he wasn't sure who he was following. Jones said he was ordered to keep following the vehicle by then-Sgt. Alexandre Bailey. (Bailey was named in the lawsuit, but the judge removed him as a defendant.)

The officer testified that Prince Jones backed his Jeep into the driver's side door of the officer's Montero, jumped out and started to run toward him. Carlton Jones -- who was wearing plainclothes that night -- testified that he displayed a gun, identified himself as a police officer and ordered Prince Jones back into his vehicle.

Prince Jones backed into Carlton Jones's vehicle a second time and was about to back into it a third time when he fired, Carlton Jones testified. The officer said he was too "frazzled" to drive out of the way of the Jeep.

Two civilian witnesses contradicted the officer's account. From her nearby home, Lettie Ballve testified that she saw the Jeep and the Montero parked driver's side by driver's side for several minutes. She testified that she never saw anyone jump out of the Jeep. Her husband, Juan Ballve, testified that the Jeep was not moving when the shots rang out.

Mabel Jones, Prince Jones Jr.'s mother, said she was unhappy with the verdict because the jury found that her son contributed to his own death. She said she believes that Carlton Jones lied when he testified that he identified himself as an officer. "My son would never attack a police officer," she said.