The family of an 18-year-old slain by an Atlanta policeman vowed to fight a Georgia Supreme Court decision handed down Monday that said the cop cannot be tried for the killing.
Raymond Bunn left the Atlanta Police Department before he was charged with murder for the July 14, 2002 shooting of Corey Ward. Bunn sought immunity under a state law that allows charges to be dismissed if he could show he acted in self-defense.
Ward’s family criticized the high court's decision and vowed to keep fighting in the civil courts -- and all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
"By this ruling I feel like they shot him all over again," Ward's grandmother, Judy Atkins, said of Monday's ruling.
The family will continue with a lawsuit that previously was filed, said family spokesman the Rev. Markel Hutchins. And he said they may petition the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Georgia court's ruling.
He said that if Atlanta had fired Bunn after he hit a young woman and broke her eye socket, Ward would be alive today. And he said Georgia's high court had done a “gross injustice, not only to this family but also to this community.”
Earlier this year, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk granted the dismissal motion that was upheld Monday in a 6-1 decision that included a sharp dissent.
According to court records, Bunn and his partner were patrolling Buckhead around 3 a.m. in an unmarked car when they responded to a car break-in. They saw a man get out of a Buick SUV with a broken window and jump into the backseat of a Chevy Tahoe driven by Ward.
Ward drove straight toward the officers, who were wearing dark shirts marked "Atlanta police." They ordered the Tahoe to stop, but the vehicle continued forward. Bunn's partner, Terry Mulkey, got out of the way, but the Tahoe bumped Bunn who opened fire, hitting Ward twice in the left side of the head.
Fulton prosecutors contended the physical evidence showed Bunn was not in front of the Tahoe when he shot Ward, so he was in no danger of being struck.
Writing for the court's majority, Chief Justice Carol Hunstein noted that, under the law, Bunn needed to show he acted in self-defense by a preponderance of the evidence, the lowest legal threshold for burden of proof. Even though there was conflicting evidence, Hunstein said Bunn met the preponderance standard.
Justice Robert Benham disagreed. He found "troubling evidence" in the case and noted that Bunn had previously been found liable in a civil suit for punching a woman in the face during a routine traffic stop.
Benham didn't name the woman, but Ylia Lavender's eye socket was broken by a blow from Bunn.
Clearing Bunn of all charges will make it more difficult to prosecute law enforcement officers who are alleged to have used excessive -- even deadly -- force, he wrote. "Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so."
Bunn's lawyer Ashleigh Merchant said the court made the right decision. "They got it right," she said. "Justice was definitely served for Mr. Bunn."
But Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard said he believed the state high court had substantially erred in its decision. He said he would ask the court to reconsider its decision and is exploring an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ward's grandmother said the court rendered an unjust ruling.
"Someone said the other day that I should be over the hurt, but there is no closure," Atkins said. She wants Bunn to face a jury.
"Corey will never have a family because of him," she said. "Corey will never experience things in life because of him."
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