New Law To Sue Police For Misconduct

On January 28, 2021 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Kathleen Mancini in the case of Mancini v. City of Tacoma. Ever wonder what a case looks like just before it goes to trial? This is me with the file the night before trial began in Mancini v. Tacoma. It's a case I handled and took all the way to the Washington Supreme Court. In January 2011 Kathleen Mancini was asleep in her bed when Tacoma police SWAT team took a battering ram to her front door. They had a warrant for her apartment but the drug dealer the cops were seeking lived in the adjacent building.

The case went up twice on appeal and to a jury which awarded Ms. Mancini $250,000 after a two week trial. Eventually I took it to the Supreme Court because there was no specific law to stop this kind of conduct which is known as "hitting the wrong door." Now there is such a law and it's called Negligent Execution of a Warrant. Kathleen Mancini finally received justice and as a result of our efforts other people who are the victim of similar misconduct will have a law to protect them and seek redress. We paved the way to hold police accountable for "hitting the wrong door."