By Shannon Duffy
U.S. Courthouse Correspondent
After finding a Delaware County man’s murder of his two children and two of their friends was the result of the U.S. Veterans Administration’s “gross negligence,” a federal judge has awarded more than $7.4 million to the mothers of the murdered children.
U.S. District Judge Paul S. Diamond concluded that VA officials should have known that the decision to expel Alejandro DeJesus from a treatment center and fire him from his job there would trigger his “rage disorder” and put his family in danger.
According to court records, on March 23, 1999, DeJesus, 49, shot and killed his children, Alejandro Jr., 22, and Felicia, 7, and their friends, Michael Faulk, 16, and Aaron Faulk, 14, and then committed suicide.
The Veterans Administration Medical Center in Coatesville had been treating DeJesus since 1997 for severe mental problems - including “intermittent explosive disorder,” drug addiction and domestic abuse.
Diamond found that the VA’s medical records showed that DeJesus was “a severely disturbed, unstable individual who was likely to commit acts of domestic violence when frustrated or unemployed.”
Just one day before the murders, Diamond found, the VA expelled DeJesus from its transitional residence and fired him from his job there because he had attacked another resident with a knife.
“Remarkably,” Diamond wrote, “the VA agreed to the expulsion even though DeJesus’ primary therapist wanted him first to be evaluated by a psychiatrist because she feared his expulsion might provoke him to an act of domestic violence.”
Attorneys Gerald A. McHugh, Jr. and Regina M. Foley of Raynes McCarty filed suit on behalf of the mothers of the murdered children - Camille DeJesus and Cheryl Faulk - alleging that, in light of DeJesus’ severe mental illness and his violent, abusive history, the VA was grossly negligent in discharging him or in failing to treat, detain or commit him after the knife incident.
After a nonjury trial, Diamond handed down an opinion on July 26 in which he held the VA liable. Now, in a separate opinion, Diamond has awarded each of the mothers more than $3.7 million.
In his July opinion, Diamond explained why the VA was responsible for the murders.
“Had the VA competently performed its duties to review and share information and to understand the law, it would have discovered that Mr. DeJesus: (1) was a severely troubled individual with intermittent explosive disorder, who needed psychotropic medication...to control even his day-to-day aggression; (2) had a history of domestic violence, which he connected to homelessness and frustration; (3) was losing his family - the most important thing in his life; (4) had recently purchased a gun; (5) had experience using guns; (6) was showing clear signs of ‘regression’ and suicidal ideation; (7) had tried to kill himself once before; and (8) presented a plain threat that he would violently harm his family or himself,” Diamond wrote.
As a result, Diamond concluded that “the VA should have realized that by discharging Mr. DeJesus, it was ‘triggering’ his rage disorder, and that he would again attack his family or himself.”
The VA’s decision to expel DeJesus, Diamond said, “therefore directly and substantially caused the children’s murders.”
After ruling in favor of the plaintiffs on the issue of liability, Diamond conducted a four-day nonjury trial on the issue of damages.
McHugh and Foley sought damages for the two mothers on four grounds - the economic losses incurred as a result of their children’s deaths; the children’s pain and suffering; wrongful death damages, such as funeral expenses; and the harm Camille DeJesus suffered as she heard her children being murdered.
In court papers, the plaintiffs’ lawyers urged Diamond to award more than $11.6 million.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel M. Sweet argued in his post-trial brief that the entire award should be about $1.75 million.
Now Diamond has handed down a 19-page opinion announcing his awards to the two mothers.
Significantly, Diamond concluded that several of the murder victims deserved to be compensated for the emotional distress they suffered just prior to being shot.
“I anticipate that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would allow recovery for the dread and fright the decedents experienced immediately before they were murdered,” Diamond wrote.
The opinion consists of a series of awards.
Diamond awarded Camille DeJesus more than $1.9 million on her survival and wrongful death claim for the loss of Felicia DeJesus. Because Felicia suffered no head wound, Diamond said, “it is likely that she remained conscious and experienced severe pain for some period after being shot. She also witnessed her father shooting Michael Faulk and anticipated her own injuries.”
As a result, Diamond awarded her estate $150,000 compensation for the pain and suffering associated with her death, and $50,000 for her anticipation of death.
Camille DeJesus also was awarded more than $1.2 million on her survival and wrongful death claims for the loss of Alejandro DeJesus, Jr.
One component of that award was disputed. Government lawyers argued that because Alejandro Jr. Suffered from cerebral palsy, he had no economic damages since he would never be regularly employed.
But plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Alejandro Jr. would likely have obtained an associate’s degree and urged Diamond to award more than $1.5 million in economic damages.
Diamond sided mostly with the plaintiffs and concluded that the award should be “in the higher range, both because of Alejandro’s aspirations and his family influences.” But because of his disability, Diamond concluded that an award of about $1 million was proper.
Cheryl Faulk was awarded more than $2.2 million on her survival and wrongful death claims for the loss of Michael Faulk and more than $1.4 million for the loss of Aaron Faulk.
In the final section of the opinion, Diamond awarded $500,000 to Camille DeJesus for her own emotional distress.
“I have found that Camille DeJesus heard her husband shoot and kill her children....
The grief and horror she has suffered were painfully obvious. Hearing the murder of her children has caused Mrs. DeJesus to suffer stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” Diamond wrote.