Federal judge awards $2 million to family of man killed by FBI agent in failed hostage rescue

A federal judge in Houston awarded nearly $2 million in damages on Monday to the mother and son of a Honduran man fatally shot by an FBI agent during a botched rescue attempt in 2018.

Judge Kenneth Hoyt ruled that Special Agent Gavin Lappe acted negligently by firing his rifle through the window of a home on Elbert Street, fatally wounding Ulises Valladares.

Hoyt also found no evidence to support Lappe’s claim that Valladares, who had been held for ransom, had grabbed his gun. “Statements by the agents otherwise are not only untrue and unsupported by scientific evidence or logic, they represent intentional falsehoods,” Hoyt wrote in a ten-page order.

Hoyt determined that Lappe’s actions were negligent and concluded that the federal government could be held liable for Valladares’s death. As a result, Valladares’s family members were awarded damages, which included compensation for the emotional distress of losing him, the loss of financial support, and the costs of repatriating his body to Honduras. Valladares’s son, Ulysses Valladares Jr., was awarded $1.3 million, while Valladares’s mother, Justina Garcia, received $611,000. Hoyt also granted $475,000 in attorney fees.

The ruling marks the latest development in a legal battle that has spanned over six years between Valladares’s family, Lappe, and the federal government. Individual claims against Lappe were dismissed from the civil rights lawsuit after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Hoyt’s decision that Lappe was not protected by qualified immunity. The appellate court found that Lappe accidentally shot Valladares while attempting the rescue and determined that his actions did not violate Valladares’s constitutional rights.

https://houstonlanding.org/federal-judge-awards-2-million-to-family-of-man-killed-by-fbi-agent-in-failed-hostage-rescue/