Wrongful-death suit against county gets court date set

Just over four years after Meredith Adams was killed in a car crash, the wrongful-death suit filed against the county by her family will be presented to a jury on June 3, 2003, in Cape Girardeau. The trial was scheduled on Monday.

Adams, 22, of Jackson, died in August 1998 as a result of a high-speed pursuit initiated by then Cape Girardeau County deputy Robert Watson, who was pursuing a stolen car driven by 14-year-old Laney Fowler Jr. of Halls, Tenn.

Fowler drove erratically on U.S. 61 in Jackson during heavy rain. He crashed into the rear of an eastbound vehicle and skidded into the westbound lane, striking the car in which Adams was a passenger.

Adams' family filed suit in September 2001 against the county, Sheriff John Jordan and the county commission. Also named as defendants are Fowler; his teen passenger, Kenneth R. Jobe, of Gates, Tenn.; and Jobe's stepfather and mother, Edward and Linda Diefenbach of Gates. Jobe's parents owned the car and reported it stolen.

The suit does not name Watson as a defendant because he has official immunity, but makes clear the Adamses believe he was negligent in not breaking off the pursuit.

Fowler, now 18, pleaded guilty in January 1999 to involuntary manslaughter and received a six-year prison sentence. However, the sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation in a juvenile facility.