In trial redux, a jury will determine monetary damages for family of man killed by St. Paul police officer

Opening statements began Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis’ federal courthouse to determine how much money the city of St. Paul must pay the family of Cordale Quinn Handy, a 29-year-old killed by a police officer in 2017.

Handy’s family described coming to the courtroom as a bad case of déjà vu. His mother, Kim Handy-Jones, and others sat through a similar civil trial less than two years ago, when the jury found the city and St. Paul Police Officer Nathaniel Younce liable for Handy’s death. It awarded his next of kin $11.5 million in punitive and compensatory damages — the highest-ever payout for St. Paul.

But in a surprise move last February, Senior U.S. District Judge David Doty rejected the amount, saying it “shock[ed] the conscience” based on the facts presented at trial. Given the options of taking a payout capped at $2.5 million or going to another trial for compensatory damages, Handy-Jones chose the latter.

“It’s traumatic because you’re reliving that event over and over again,” said Valerie Handy-Carey, Cordale’s aunt, after jury selection Wednesday morning. “You thought it was done and over with. Now you have to come back.”

According to the allegations in the lawsuit brought by Handy’s family, St. Paul officers were dispatched to Handy’s apartment in the 700 block of E. 6th Street on March 15, 2017, after he called 911 claiming there was a person in his apartment trying to hurt or kill him. Handy was experiencing hallucinations after taking what his mother’s attorneys called “a bad dose of Ecstasy.”

Attorneys for St. Paul said Handy was under the influence of marijuana and psychoactive chemical N-Ethylpentylone — a substance commonly known as “bath salts.” He fired 16 shots from a handgun into a sofa, believing someone was hiding in the couch, according to court papers.

The officers, Younce and Mikko Norman, found Handy on Sinnen Street between E. 6th and 7th streets. After ordering him to drop the gun, they said Handy dropped to the ground but then pointed his gun at Norman. First Younce and then Norman opened fire, killing Handy.

The officers fired eight shots, four each. Seven of the bullets hit Handy, according to Handy-Jones’ complaint. Her attorneys contended he had dropped the gun when he went down and was not pointing it at the police. St. Paul police were not yet using body cameras, so there is no video of the incident.

The officers were not charged criminally for the shooting. Younce was found civilly liable, but Norman was not.

Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, a group of social justice advocates held a news conference in support of Handy’s family, calling Doty’s decision to buck the original jury’s award an “overreach” of judicial power.

“The judge’s actions call into question the value of Black life in the eyes of the law,” said Johnathon McClellan of the Minnesota Justice Coalition. “Doty’s decision represents a dangerous precedent and slippery slope.”

With the liability question settled by the previous jury, the new trial seeks only to determine the dollar amount. Senior U.S. District Judge John Tunheim, who is presiding over the case, told jurors Wednesday they should calculate the number based on the amount of money and other contributions Handy would have provided to his family, such as comfort and guidance, factoring in life expectancy. The damages will be divided among Handy’s mother and other family members.

In opening statements, Stephanie Angolkar, an attorney representing St. Paul, told the jury that at the time of his death, Handy had been under the influence of bath salts and fired a gun 16 times. She said Handy was not financially supporting his family at the time of his death, and the amount they award the family should not be based on how much he was loved or how much grief his mother has endured.

“Of course he mattered and he was loved by his family,” she told jurors. “I’ll tell you right now, we’re not asking [for the payout to be] zero.”

Kevin O’Connor, the attorney for Handy’s family, told jurors that Handy was experiencing a “mental breakdown” after he likely smoked marijuana laced with another substance, but the behavior did not reflect his normal demeanor.

It was “the worst day of Cordale Handy’s life,” O’Connor said, “and the last day.”

O’Connor described Handy as a kind and generous man who always helped his family, including the 25 foster kids his mother cared for, and told a story of Handy giving an expensive jacket to a homeless person one cold day.

Handy never graduated from high school, opting instead to work with his stepfather doing drywall and painting, but he later earned his GED. He moved to Minneapolis from a “rough” suburb of Chicago to escape a bad crowd that had landed him in minor trouble there, O’Connor said. At the time of his killing, he worked full time for the Salvation Army and was the picture of perfect health, the attorney told jurors: “He never even had a cavity.”

Staff writer Stephen Montemayor contributed to this report