It finally comes to an end - "Offer of Judgment" reached with Philadelphia

[whoshisface]

Can the ACLU take the case without Mark?

I assume the ACLU advised Mark on taking the settlement. Since they are his lawyers.

Mark called me what seemed like two months ago and asked my opinion. Nothing in the offer seems to be any different than two months ago and as such he must have thought long and hard about it for those two months. He had tons of people give him advice, including his lawyers, after considering all that he heard (things we don't all know of) he made a logical and reasonable conclusion based on his life.

Simply if the lawyers thought mark could reasonably expect more money then I told mark to weight the risk vs. the potential outcome and the benefit to taking the settlement now. I'm sure mark considered lots of things in making the call, one of those things was certainty his lawyers opinion on the probable return on investment.

Mark could only get $$$ from this case, that's it, he wasn't going to get anything else folks. The only issue was the amount. For me I wouldn't have settled for anything less than $32,000 and not a penny less (j/k) it isn't important what figure i would settle for, it's not my case nor my life and it's not your case nor your life. I'm nearly 40 mark is in his late 20's I think. We're oceans apart on life security. He worries about his mr. tire experience I pray the prostate holds up! $25k to him is a lot more than $100k to me!.

Going all the way wouldn't have had much, if any more, of an impact. He might not have won even $25k. Take a look at the dixon city dozen case. As far as I know they got NOTHING and the case is stalled out and basically dead as far as I know. That case was just as bad IMO minus the foul language and threats.. So stop arm chair quarter backing. He wasn't going to get an admission of guilt or much of anything else.

If you think the PPD didn't learn their lesson you're not living in the real world. I can walk in philly with a gun on my hip and not get harrassed right now.

How long that will last is another story but I suspect cops will be more careful going forward for at least the next two years

[bill gray]

Congratulations Mark. You did a helluva lot for OCers (and CCers) with your polite but fierce resistance.

I called for a lot of non-monetary actions being required of the PPD. It seems they saw the writing on the wall and put Academy training and roll call training in place plus their other actions. They made these demands moot and got ahead of the curve as it were.

We (carry supporters) can still make hay out of the settlement by taking control of the vocabulary. If we, all of us, always refer to the new training and procedures as "Dougherty Training" we can nail a constant reminder of Mark's victory to the new PPD attitude. Say "The new PPD stance, reinforced by constant "Dougherty Training," is the result of one man demanding that his rights and Penna. law be respected." "PPD's "Dougherty Training" (training on the legality of openly carrying a firearm) is a welcome step forward." Say it in letters to the editor and in posts. Say it everywhere. Get the image out there.

Grab control of the vocabulary and you have won the argument before it is well started. When an anti says "gun violence" make him acknowledge that a handicapped person who scares off a mugger with a gun did "gun violence." Ditto a senior citizen who fires at a home invader and a cop who straps on his sidearm before heading off to work. "Assault weapon?" Make him define it. Make him acknowledge it is just a mean looking regular rifle kinda like a Yugo with racing stripes is not a "dangerous racing machine." You are at a disadvantage if the anti gets a pass on using phrases like "gun free zone" and "reasonable gun control laws." If you don't counter with "helpless victim zones" and "victim disarmament laws" you are down two strikes before you get to bat.

Control the vocabulary or be controlled by it.

[phillyd2]

Mark could only get $$$ from this case, that's it, he wasn't going to get anything else folks. The only issue was the amount.

I was never, ever in this for money.

OK, lets finally put this issue to bed. The important thing is that nobody got hurt.

[PennsyPlinker]

I did not read all the posts. It would have been nice to see a little more punishment come the way of the people responsible for perpetrating the crimes against Mark, and then obstructing justice. But overall, this is a step in the right direction. Once again we see that justice is hard to come by, but it is worth it in the end to pursue it. It is also a fight that will never end. We can never say, "We won. It is done."

This is also a nail in a couple of coffins. Where are those who cry out open carry is going to ruin it for the rest of us? Where are the detractors who tell us that things are going the wrong way? Where was the NRA in all this? It is shameful that the NRA did not jump on this immediately. But then, the NRA is not really about gun rights. The NRA is about the NRA.

As for only the taxpayers being hurt, those are the people who keep electing the people responsible for this whole mess, and they are the ones who condone the behavior of those hired to enforce the law in the city. If it hurts bad enough for long enough, maybe they will do something about it. Not everyone is going to agree on this, but it is a win. As for the money, it is not a lot by any reckoning anymore, but it isn't about money. By the way, Mark is buying, right?

[daschnoz]

Congrats!! I'm happy to see that everything went your way.

Rep would be inbound, but the rep nazis want me to spread it around - damn socialists that they are .

I'm just trying to figure out how you got the ACLU to back you on a rights violation that involves a gun.

[cgk]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pe...more-like-this

That's the story I saw this morning in the Inquirer. Wish it had been longer and got the law right ("OC legal in PA with LTCF"), but it was better than nothing. It's a shame that it took a lawsuit to get the PPD's attention, but not all that surprising. I'm sure the city is self-insured for these amounts, but the funds should come out of the PPD's budget and, small as they may be, it will be noticed. More significant, it seems to me, is the nature of the discussion that the lawyers in the DA's office had with the leadership of the PPD. That could only be good, and I'm sorry it is not on YouTube.

[donotknowme]

End Qualified Immunity!!!


Well done, Mark. You did a great job from beginning to end.

[ViperGTS19801]

By the way, Mark is buying, right?

I know you say this jokingly, but if the money magically appeared this quickly, I might consider it. Sadly, it takes about 30 days for everything to finalize.

[PennsyPlinker]

I know you say this jokingly, but if the money magically appeared this quickly, I might consider it. Sadly, it takes about 30 days for everything to finalize.

No worries Mark, and yes, it was a joke. I am sure you have other expenses that need to be seen to. I am glad to have been able to help in my own small way. You have done the hard part.

[whoshisface]

Let me be clearer. As you've posted that I said Money was the only thing mark could get out of this lawsuit and then posted that Mark said it was not about the money. Its a good point that appears contradictory but isn't.

Mark wanted to get further training for the officers as part of the lawsuit settlement offer. They said no initially and I do not know if they ended up giving in or not in the offer he accepted. However, no matter what he did, if it went to court, he probably wouldn't be able to get more training. Simply they did train their officers. This came about even more so after we had the Open Carry March. I suspect they actually pointed this out to mark during his conversations with them (to which i'm not privy).

Basically since PPD didn't want to give more training/policy changes. Mark could only reasonably expect cash. The more cash the more the point would be made. It wasn't about him obtaining riches but I'm pretty certain he wouldn't have complained if he did, I know I would not, he wanted to make a point. That point was made with his actions and the march and the suit and the settlement. A settlement that makes the exact same point as if it went to court minus the potential MINOR additional press IF he had won big! The press has been huge on this issue and no reasonable judgement would have made it any larger, he wasn't going to get millions for sure. The facts of this case couldn't have been more exposed to the light of day because the audio is out there and the secondary illegal arrest (for his warrant) was minor compared to the audio.

For all the armchair quarter-backers.... Were you at the March walking in the rain with us? Are you going to applebees http://forum.pafoa.org/open-carry-14...arch-10th.html Saturday? Did you attend the fox and hound meet and greet? Did you sign up for the second Open Carry Event in Philly that basically flopped because no one signed up? How about the third? Will you get off your ass and make it to the next event or the one after that? Will you even write your representatives or show up at town hall meetings? I have. Mark has. Plenty of people here have. If you wouldn't take $25k and you also wouldn't get off your ass and go to a March you can feel free to stuff it..

If you care get off your duff and participate instead of whining about someone that actually got off his duff and did LOTS taking a settlement..