Congratulations to Daryl Washington and Greg Marks who, with help from DP&S’s Shelby White and Thad Spalding, won a $21.6 million jury verdict for their client, Odell Edwards, in a civil rights case involving the use of excessive, deadly force. The plaintiff’s 15-year-old son, Jordan, was shot and killed by a Balch Springs police officer, Roy Oliver, as the car Jordan was riding in was leaving a house party. The police officer was criminally convicted of murder in 2018, but continued to claim that his shooting was justified. On April 3, 2023, the civil jury disagreed, finding Oliver liable for using excessive, deadly force, and awarding $10.6 million in actual damages to Mr. Edwards and to Jordan’s estate, and an additional $11 million in punitive damages for the officer’s wrongful conduct. You can read the Dallas Morning News article about the verdict here. You can also view news reports about the verdict here (WFAA), here (Fox 4), and here (NBC 5).
