alan
Member
Legal fight targets gun design in fatality
Resurrected civil lawsuit against Beretta
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Lawyers Monday will resume battling about whether the Beretta company is responsible for a Berkeley teenager's shooting death because the design of its semi-automatic pistol didn't make it obvious there was a bullet in the chamber.
A resurrected civil lawsuit against Beretta U.S.A. charges a gun design flaw resulted in the accidental killing of Griffin "Kenzo" Dix in May 1994.
Beretta's defense team has countered that fault lies with the family of Michael Soe, who was 14 years old when he aimed his father's Beretta 92 Compact L handgun at Dix and pulled the trigger without making certain the chamber was empty. Dix was shot in the heart.
"If a cheap disposable camera can tell you when it's loaded, surely a handgun should indicate when there is a bullet in the chamber," Dix's father, Griffin Dix, wrote in a local newspaper editorial published after legislation was passed requiring clear chamber-loaded indicators and mechanisms that make guns inoperable if bullet
clips are removed. "Effective designs for loaded-chamber indicators and magazine disconnect safety devices have been available for many decades."
The 9-mm Beretta pistol that killed Dix was defective because the chamber-loaded indicator was tiny and difficult to see, the suit against the gun maker charges. The indicator on the pistol was a small red dot that rose a millimeter when a round was in the chamber.
Soe got the gun from a camera bag next to his father's bed and popped out the magazine, thinking he had unloaded the weapon before pointing it at his friend, according to Griffin Dix.
Soe's dad, Clarence, reportedly bought the gun the previous year.
Griffin Dix maintains Soe would not have squeezed the trigger if the Beretta had been designed to make it easy to see a bullet was in the chamber. Griffin and Lynn Dix, a Berkeley couple, filed a wrongful death suit in Alameda County Superior Court in 1995. The suit demanded $7.5 million in damages. A civil trial ended with jurors exonerating Beretta.
The way was cleared for a retrial after an appellate court ruled a panelist came to the jury box convinced it was Clarence Soe's responsibility, not the gun maker's, to ensure the pistol was properly stored and his son was taught firearm safety.
"I believe in parental responsibility," the juror was quoted as saying in court documents. "There is too much laxness in society today."
The juror was "belligerent and domineering," disrupted deliberations, denigrated dissenting members of the panel and browbeat peers to his position, appellate court documents indicate.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco is presiding over the new jury trial. Michael Soe was among those called to testify since opposing lawyers made opening statements to jurors Dec. 2. Presentation of evidence is to continue in Baranco's courtroom in the County Administration Building at 1221 Oak St.
Resurrected civil lawsuit against Beretta
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Lawyers Monday will resume battling about whether the Beretta company is responsible for a Berkeley teenager's shooting death because the design of its semi-automatic pistol didn't make it obvious there was a bullet in the chamber.
A resurrected civil lawsuit against Beretta U.S.A. charges a gun design flaw resulted in the accidental killing of Griffin "Kenzo" Dix in May 1994.
Beretta's defense team has countered that fault lies with the family of Michael Soe, who was 14 years old when he aimed his father's Beretta 92 Compact L handgun at Dix and pulled the trigger without making certain the chamber was empty. Dix was shot in the heart.
"If a cheap disposable camera can tell you when it's loaded, surely a handgun should indicate when there is a bullet in the chamber," Dix's father, Griffin Dix, wrote in a local newspaper editorial published after legislation was passed requiring clear chamber-loaded indicators and mechanisms that make guns inoperable if bullet
clips are removed. "Effective designs for loaded-chamber indicators and magazine disconnect safety devices have been available for many decades."
The 9-mm Beretta pistol that killed Dix was defective because the chamber-loaded indicator was tiny and difficult to see, the suit against the gun maker charges. The indicator on the pistol was a small red dot that rose a millimeter when a round was in the chamber.
Soe got the gun from a camera bag next to his father's bed and popped out the magazine, thinking he had unloaded the weapon before pointing it at his friend, according to Griffin Dix.
Soe's dad, Clarence, reportedly bought the gun the previous year.
Griffin Dix maintains Soe would not have squeezed the trigger if the Beretta had been designed to make it easy to see a bullet was in the chamber. Griffin and Lynn Dix, a Berkeley couple, filed a wrongful death suit in Alameda County Superior Court in 1995. The suit demanded $7.5 million in damages. A civil trial ended with jurors exonerating Beretta.
The way was cleared for a retrial after an appellate court ruled a panelist came to the jury box convinced it was Clarence Soe's responsibility, not the gun maker's, to ensure the pistol was properly stored and his son was taught firearm safety.
"I believe in parental responsibility," the juror was quoted as saying in court documents. "There is too much laxness in society today."
The juror was "belligerent and domineering," disrupted deliberations, denigrated dissenting members of the panel and browbeat peers to his position, appellate court documents indicate.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco is presiding over the new jury trial. Michael Soe was among those called to testify since opposing lawyers made opening statements to jurors Dec. 2. Presentation of evidence is to continue in Baranco's courtroom in the County Administration Building at 1221 Oak St.
If my son even ACTS in an unsafe manner he will be nursing knuckle prints in his forehead.