CAIRO: CITY LOSES REGARDLESS OF OUTCOME OF CIVIL LAWSUIT

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Cairo City Council is faced with a "lose-lose" situation in a $6 million federal civil lawsuit filed against the city by the family of a man who was shot to death by a Cairo police officer in December 1991.

"Even if we win the suit we still lose," said Cairo Mayor James Wilson. "Legal expenses are a concern. We can be out a substantial sum of money and Cairo can't afford that."

The c ouncil has hired attorneys to represent some of the defendants in the suit. The law firms of Holland and Holland of Cairo and Feirich, Schoen, Mager and Green of Carbondale have been retained to represent the city. The council also agreed to pay the costs for attorney Paul Henry of Metropolis to represent then-chief-of-police Burl E. Pickett and Cairo attorney Byron Connell Jr. to represent the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, also named in the suit.

Two more defendants John McDonald, the officer who shot Roy Lee Jones, and Cpl. Calvin Box, McDonald's superior who was on the scene when the shooting occurred were also named in the suit.

Attorneys for McDonald and Box will be addressed later by the council. Approval for three defendants were approved first because their response had to be filed first.

The complaint, filed in December in U.S. District Court at Benton, alleges that abuse Jones suffered "was consistent with an institutionalized practice" of the police department that officials knew about and supported with "deliberate indifference to the rights of citizens."

Jones, 25, of Hodges Park, was shot to death Dec. 30, when he was approached by McDonald on a supermarket parking lot at 3 a.m.. A Williamson County jury convicted McDonald of second-degree murder and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was sentenced in July to 10 years in prison. The trial had been moved to Williamson County on a change of venue.

Cairo did not have police liability insurance when the incident occurred. Wilson said the city was considering the liability at the time, and purchased it after the shooting.

The mayor said at this time he could not estimate what the legal fees might be, but based on the Cairo budget the fees "could be substantial."

Plaintiffs in the suit are the victim's parents, Percy and Emma Jones. Also listed as plaintiffs are seven brothers and sisters.

Attorney Victor R. Cook of Marion is representing the Jones family.