SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz County is searching for an almost a $1.7 million settlement in a civil wrongful dying go well with in opposition to capital homicide defendant Steven Carrillo.
Based on court docket information, Carrillo, 34, of Ben Lomond, was served discover of the wrongful dying lawsuit whereas incarcerated. Carrillo has been held at Alameda County’s Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since shortly after his June 6, 2020 arrest and didn't reply to the lawsuit inside a legally allotted time interval.
In the meantime, Carrillo is pending trial in a prison case stemming from a June 6, 2020 shootout with legislation enforcement outdoors Carrillo’s Ben Lomond residence. He stands accused of 19 fees, together with homicide and several other counts of tried homicide, together with quite a few weapons fees. Through the firefight, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller was shot and killed.
Within the newer civil go well with, filed in June 2021, the county claimed that it's due recompense for the employees’ compensation dying advantages paid out to Gutzwiller’s household. Authorities declined to touch upon particulars of the case Thursday, with a spokesperson saying the county had employed outdoors authorized counsel to deal with the case.
“Although this case is uncommon, that is pretty customary when a 3rd celebration causes an damage (or dying) to considered one of our staff,” county spokesperson Jason Hoppin mentioned of the wrongful dying go well with.
The county’s counsel, Miranda Francis, filed a request in February to have the court docket make a default judgment within the case, missing a well timed response from Carrillo. Throughout a standing convention listening to Wednesday morning, Santa Cruz County Superior Courtroom Decide Timothy Volkmann requested that Francis submit a whole default judgment report. No lawyer appeared on Carrillo’s behalf.
The subsequent listening to within the civil case is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. July 13, in Division 10.
Individually, Carrillo just lately settled a federal capital homicide case. In February, he pleaded responsible to his involvement in a Could 2020 drive-by capturing that took the lifetime of Federal Protecting Providers Officer Pat Underwood — only a week earlier than his alleged encounter in Ben Lomond. A sentencing listening to in that case is scheduled for early June in U.S. District Courtroom. In the meantime, the Santa Cruz capital homicide case stays pending, with Santa Cruz County Superior Courtroom Decide Paul Burdick set to supervise a trial scheduling listening to Could 2.