Christopher Watts agrees to pay $6 million to parents of Shanann Watts in wrongful death lawsuit
Nov 25, 2019
Christopher Watts agreed to pay $6 million to the parents of Shanann Watts, his pregnant wife whom he murdered in their Frederick home last year, though
the family likely will never see any of the money. bbm
A judge ordered last week that Watts pay the $6 million to Frank and Sandy Rzucek, marking the end of the civil case. The couple
filed the lawsuit last year on the same day that Watts pleaded guilty to killing his family, including two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste, and dumping the three bodies on a Weld County oil site.
The figure includes $1 million for each of the deaths and $3 million for emotional pain. The amount owed will grow at an 8 percent annual interest rate.
[...]
The Rzuceks declined to comment on the finding through their Greeley attorney, Steven Lambert.
The attorney previously said the family filed the lawsuit to collect any money Watts might have and to keep him from profiting from the murders should he ever decide to write a book or sell the rights to his story. Watts is
serving a life sentence in the Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
Watts never fought the civil lawsuit and on Nov. 5 agreed to the $6 million finding. bbm
ETA: It's well documented that the Watts owned few assets out right, and I believe the civil lawsuit was more a formality.
While the federal "Son of Sam" statute adopted by the majority of the States was written to prohibit defendants from profiting from their crime, the law has not been without challenges.
Colorado is one of the States that had to repeal it's statute and replace it with another one. It seems to me that securing a civil judgement is required to for the statute to be effective and/or foolproof.
MOO