Jury Leaves Many Stunned After It Awards $4 To The Family Of Man Killed By A Sheriff’s Deputy

In the eyes of a federal jury, the wrongful death of Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr. is only worth $4.

In 2014, 30-year-old Hill was fatally shot at his home in Florida by St. Lucie County Deputy Christopher Newman who was responding to a noise complaint.

The New York Times reports that the lawsuit was filed two years later by Hill’s mother, Viola Bryant,  who sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. The jury was asked to decide whether Hill’s constitutional rights were violated and if his three children, Aryanna, Gregory III, and Destiny Hill, should be awarded for their loss But the jury didn’t believe Hill’s family suffered at all.

On May 24, the verdict granted only $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each of Hill’s kids. The jurors found Hill mostly at fault because he was intoxicated at the time of his death and believe Deputy Newman did not use excessive force, even though Newman shot through Hill’s garage door four times, striking him in the head and abdomen.

Understandably, the decision left his loved ones utterly confused. “It’s heartbreaking,” Hill’s fiancée, Monique Davis, said. “There are a lot of questions I want to ask.” Despite the unbelievable outcome, Davis, who planned to marry Hill less than two months after he died, says she plans to continue to pursue justice.

“I’m going to keep fighting until I get some justice,” she said. “That’s the only way I’m going to get peace.”