After “a previous dispute between two employees” escalated into violence on April 26, 2025, authorities arrested a man and charged him with several violations.
DeKalb County Police said that, at some point, “a third person became involved.” As the argument heated up, “investigators learned two of the three parties produced guns and started shooting. However, the bullets hit two innocent bystanders in their 60s.” Emergency responders rushed these two bystanders to local hospitals with serious injuries.
After an investigation, police arrested a 47-year-old and charged him with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Violent Incidents in Civil Court
Shootings and other violent incidents in public places usually spawn civil actions. A Marietta personal injury lawyer files such actions to compensate victims. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Almost all personal injury cases settle out of court. Emotional courtroom showdowns are expensive and time-consuming solutions which, in most cases, benefit no one.
Duty of Care
Under Georgia law, the owners of supermarkets and other public buildings must make the premises safe and secure for everyone. The exact extent of that duty varies, mostly according to the relationship between the owner and victim, as follows:
- Invitee: When owners directly or indirectly invite people onto the premises for business or social purposes, owners have a duty of reasonable care. Much like he Good Samaritan went out of his way to help an injured traveler, these owners must go out of their way to maintain safe and secure premises.
- Licensee: When owners tolerate guests, instead of inviting them, there’s a certain element of “enter at your own risk.” However, these owners have a duty to warn licensees, such as children who cut across a parking lot on their way to and from school, about latent (hidden) defects, such as burned-out lights, which could affect safety and/or security.
- Trespasser: Speaking of children, certain legal doctrines, such as the attractive nuisance rule, protect children in certain situations, such as kids who dive into unattended swimming pools. For the most part, however, owners owe trespassers nothing, in terms of safety and security.
These categories often overlap. For example, when Ann walks into a supermarket during business hours, she’s an invitee. However, if Ann causes a disturbance, she becomes a trespasser.
More than likely, the injured bystander in the above story was an invitee, even if s/he didn’t have a personal invitation and/or buy anything at the store.
Knowledge of Hazard
Floor or walkway hazards, such as wet spots, loose carpet, and large sidewalk cracks, cause most premises liability injuries. Owners are liable for falls and other injuries that these defects cause if they knew about, or should have known about, the injury-causing hazard.
A law school classic case, Anjou vs. Boston Elevated Railway Company, sheds light on this issue. Ms. Anjou slipped and fell on a banana peel which, according to evidence presented at trial, was black and gritty. The court ruled that the peel’s color indicated it had been on the floor for a while. Therefore, according to the ruling, someone should have known about it and picked it up.
Although the injury in the above case is different (a shooting), the legal knowledge principles are the same.
A Marietta personal injury lawyer can prove actual knowledge if the employee dispute was caught on security tape, or an employee saw it live. If the employee dispute was an ongoing thing, the supermarket owner should have known about it and should have done something about it.
Violent Incidents in Criminal Court
Personal injury lawyers bring personal injury cases to compensate victims. Prosecutors file criminal charges to punish offenders. A Marietta criminal defense lawyer reduces or eliminates the harsh direct and indirect consequences of a criminal conviction, usually via procedural and/or substantive defenses.
If one of these defenses could apply, prosecutors usually chicken out and offer fire sale-type deals during pretrial settlement negotiations.
Procedural Defenses
Improper lineups and illegal interrogations are two of the most common procedural defenses in violent crime cases. If a procedural defense applies, a judge may throw a case out of court.
Slanted lineups and illegal interrogations are two of the most common defenses in violent criminal cases.
Most police departments use single-blind lineups. The administering officer, but not the witness, knows the suspect’s identity. As a result, the administering officer often, and sometimes subconsciously, gives the witness clues. Placing the suspect in the middle of the lineup may be the best example.
If neither the administering officer nor the suspect knows the subject’s identity (double-blind lineup), the result is much more reliable. Simple instructional changes help too. For example, if the officer tells the witness the suspect may or may not be in the lineup, the witness doesn’t feel pressure to pick someone.
Incidentally, suspects have a Fifth Amendment right to refuse to appear in lineups or pose for pictures.
Speaking of the Fifth Amendment, the right to remain silent begins when custodial interrogation begins. Voluntary custodial interrogation, which is common in violent criminal cases, is in a gray area.
Assume that Paul, when he learns he’s a person of interest, voluntarily goes to the station to speak with investigators and clear his name. Prosecutors would probably argue that Paul’s voluntary appearance cancelled his Fifth Amendment rights. But the law in this area is uncertain.
Reliable and Unreliable Evidence
The aforementioned slanted lineups usually produce accurate results, because they’re slanted. For that reason, there’s a difference between reliable and accurate. An unreliable broken clock is accurate twice a day.
At trial, many prosecutors count on unreliable evidence. Witness identifications are shaky in the days following a violent crime. Witness testimony is even shakier a year after the arrest date, which is the normal delay in violent criminal cases.
Frequently, by this time, witnesses have told the same story so many times that they confuse the details. Any prior inconsistent statement, no matter how seemingly frivolous, often torpedoes witness reliability. As mentioned, if the evidence is unreliable, its accuracy is irrelevant.
Violent acts usually have consequences in civil and criminal courts. For a free consultation with an experienced Marietta lawyer, contact The Phillips Law Firm, LLC. We routinely handle matters in Cobb County and nearby jurisdictions.
