Illegal alien kills Houston Police Officer in traffic stop. Wife sues employer. Is this a first step in stopping illegal alien flood?

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May 20, 2008, 12:13PM
Widow of slain HPD officer sues Quintero employer
As jurors weigh killer's sentence, victim's wife says landscaper was negligent in hiring the illegal immigrant


By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


The widow of slain Houston police officer Rodney Johnson filed a wrongful death lawsuit Monday against the landscaper who employed Johnson's killer, as jurors continued deliberating Juan Leonardo Quintero's fate

Quintero was convicted earlier this month of shooting Johnson seven times after he was arrested during a traffic stop.

Johnson's widow, Joslyn, said Robert Lane Camp was negligent in hiring Quintero, an illegal immigrant from Mexico.

"He needs to pay for his actions," Johnson said.

Her attorney, Ben Dominguez, said the negligence theory is based on testimony that Camp shouldn't have let Quintero drive a company truck illegally. Quintero did not have a driver's license.

Testimony also showed that Quintero drank about 24 beers every day and sometimes used cocaine, which Dominguez cited in his petition alleging Camp should have known Quintero was dangerous.

Jurors weighing whether Quintero should receive the death penalty for the shooting were sequestered late Monday and will resume deliberations Tuesday morning.

A note from the jury late Monday seemed to indicate that the jurors had decided Quintero would be a future threat to society — one of two questions any jury must decide before doling out the death penalty. According to the note, which was read in open court, jurors said they are moving on to the second question: whether there are any mitigating factors showing that Quintero should be spared.

Defense attorneys on Monday pleaded for the life of Quintero, while Harris County prosecutors said he should pay "the ultimate price" for shooting Rodney Johnson.

"It wasn't planned; it wasn't deliberate," said Danalynn Recer, Quintero's attorney. "He fell off the edge."

Recer told jurors there are many reasons to show mercy and spare Quintero's life, including his wife and two stepchildren.

Recer has conceded that Quintero shot Johnson as the officer filled out a booking sheet in the front seat of his patrol car on Sept. 21, 2006.

She said the shooting was a "freak circumstance" in which Quintero exploded, but that he would not pose a future threat to society if given life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors worked to show that Quintero should be executed for the shooting.

"If you're a threat in the back seat of a patrol car, you're a threat anywhere," said Denise Bradley, an assistant district attorney.

"If you follow the law," she told jurors, "there may not be mercy, but there will be justice."

To show a past criminal history, prosecutors pointed out that Quintero had several DWI convictions and was deported after pleading guilty to indecency with a 12-year-old girl in 1999.

The jury has not heard any details of that crime.

"You know he should pay the ultimate price," prosecutor John Jordan said. "You know he deserves it."

The arguments capped the trial in state District Judge Joan Campbell's court.

The jury convicted Quintero of capital murder on May 8. He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Jurors began deliberating on Quintero's sentence at noon Monday. They will be sequestered until they reach their verdict.

Johnson was killed after stopping Quintero for speeding and arresting the 34-year-old for not having a driver's license. Investigators said Johnson patted down Quintero, but missed a 9mm semiautomatic pistol tucked in Quintero's waistband.

In a videotaped statement, Quintero said he shot Johnson while he was locked in the back seat of the patrol car, his hands cuffed behind his back.

Joslyn Johnson's attorney, Ben Dominguez, said she is seeking "not less than $10 million in damages," from Camp and his landscaping company for hiring Quintero, housing him and allowing him to drive a company truck even though he didn't have a license.

Camp is under federal indictment and faces up to 10 years in prison, accused of harboring Quintero. Neither Camp nor his criminal defense lawyer could be reached late Monday.

Joslyn Johnson also said she is contemplating suing the City of Houston to force HPD to staff each patrol car with two officers.

"If there were two officers at that scene, my husband would still be alive," Johnson said. A police officer herself, Johnson wrote a letter to Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt after her husband's death asking him to change the policy, she said.

brian.rogers@chron.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5789864.html