Three siblings whose half-sister was killed by a California Army National Guard sergeant reached a settlement today in their wrongful death suit against the state.   

JoAnn Crystal Harris was beaten to death with a baseball bat wielded by Sgt. Scott Ansman on the gymnasium floor of the Culver City armory on Aug. 24, 2007.

More defense testimony was scheduled today in downtown Los Angeles, but lawyers told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kevin Brazile that the case had been resolved, Deputy Attorney General David Adida said. Adida declined further comment.

In a telephone interview following the resolution, Mark Geragos, the attorney for Harris’ family told Patch a finalized settlement was reached early this morning.

“There were no winners in this case,” Geragos said but added, “At the end of the day it was a fair resolution.”

In an earlier interview with Patch on Dec. 12, Geragos said attorneys had tried to reach a settlement before the case went to trial, but were unable to.  

Those negotiations notwithstanding, Geragos told Patch this afternoon he had fully expected the trial to go to verdict and he certainly hadn't expected a settlement mid-trial.

Geragos declined to provide any specific details of the settlement.

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