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Crime & Safety

State Sues Siblings of Culver City Armory Murder Victim

The state has filed a lawsuit against the three siblings of slain JoAnn Harris, alleging that the family breached their agreement to settle a previous suit saying that negligence led to their sister's death in 2007.

The state is suing three siblings and their former attorney, saying they breached a commitment to settle their lawsuit alleging negligence led to the death of a pregnant woman beaten to death with a baseball bat by an Army sergeant at a Culver City armory in 2007.  

The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint names plaintiffs Gerald Bennett, Suzette Bennett and Deborah Bennett, the brother and sisters of the slain , and their former lawyer, Robert McNeill.

The suit, filed Oct. 12, comes as trial nears of the Bennetts' wrongful death suit against the state. Lawyers in the case have been ordered to court Monday for a trial-setting conference before Judge Kevin Brazile.

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The siblings replaced McNeill a year ago with attorney Mario Vega, then hired noted lawyer Mark Geragos last month. The suit against the state was originally filed in October 2008 by their mother, Martha Harris, who died Aug. 2.

The Bennetts maintain their sister's death at the California Army National Guard armory in Culver City could have been avoided if officials there investigated another sergeant's allegations that Sgt. Scott Ansman was "actively trying to kill ... Harris and her unborn child.''

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The victim's pregnancy was discovered while she was undergoing a medical examination during her Army recruitment, according to the lawsuit. She later told her recruiter that Ansman was the father, the suit states.

The married Ansman believed the woman's pregnancy could threaten his military career and marriage, according to the suit. In the presence of the other sergeant, Ansman "unequivocally vowed to 'kill the (expletive)' before he let an illegitimate baby destroy what he had worked to hard to achieve,'' according to the plaintiff's court papers.

According to the state's suit against the siblings and McNeill, the lawyer tried to get the 71-year-old Harris to settle the case for $400,000 while she was in the hospital and under medication, all over the objections other children.  

The state agreed to the $400,000 accord. But Gerald Bennett later said his mother never concurred with the settlement, despite McNeill's representations to Brazile to the contrary, according to the state's suit.

In January, Vega told Brazile the case was not settled after all and should be scheduled for trial.

McNeill did not immediately return a call for comment.

According to the plaintiffs' court papers, before killing the woman with the baseball bat on Aug. 24, 2007, Ansman tried and failed to induce an abortion by pouring Visine eye drops into her tea to try and constrict her blood vessels. Ansman called 911 to report the woman's death, but he was arrested that same day. The 15-year military veteran was a full-time supply sergeant at the armory.

Ansman, now 38, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder—one each for the woman and her fetus—and sentenced in September 2009 to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge H. Chester Horn.

Geragos has filed court papers asking that Ansman and other military personnel be ordered to appear during trial. He also is asking that the state be barred from referring to the failed settlement before the jury, saying it is not relevant and could cause the panel members to think they should cap any damages at $400,000.

The state is still willing to go along with the $400,000 settlement, according to its court papers.

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