Jury finds parents of admitted shooter in Santa Fe HS massacre not negligent
Closing arguments concluded in the civil case against Dimitrios Pagourtzis' parents on Friday.
GALVESTON COUNTY, Texas -- The parents of a former student accused of killing 10 people in the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting cannot be held responsible for what happened, a jury decided Monday at the conclusion of a civil trial in Galveston.
The parents of the admitted shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, were both sued, with families of the victims alleging that, as parents, Antonios Pagourtzis and Rose Maria Kosmetatos should have both secured the family's guns and gotten their son mental health treatment.
The jury determined Dimitrios' parents were not liable for the deaths. They assigned the conduct responsible for the deaths primarily to Dimitrios and partly to the online store that sold the ammunition. Millions of dollars in judgments were awarded to the victims' families.
Lucky Gunner, the gun store found partially liable for the massacre, gave ABC13 this statement about the verdict:
"We were dismissed from this lawsuit more than two years ago. Lucky Gunner wasn't a party to the trial, so it was easy for the jury to place some of the blame on us because we weren't there to defend ourselves. Due to our dismissal, Lucky Gunner isn't responsible for paying any monetary damages awarded by the jury.
It's worth noting that plaintiff Trent Beasley has said Lucky Gunner didn't break any laws, and the plaintfiffs' lead attorney, Clint McGuire, has also publicly acknowledged the same thing. We believe the jury was likely never told that."
Last year, Lucky Gunner reached a settlement with the families.
Jurors awarded $330 million in damages to the victims' families, whom will likely see no money.
Dimitrios' attorney, Nick Poehl told ABC13 in part, "Dimitri will never have a dime to his name the rest of his life."
On May 18, 2018, 10 people - eight students and two teachers - were fatally shot and 13 others wounded in the school shooting. Dimitrios was 17 years old at the time. The Galveston County District Attorney's Office has deemed him incompetent to stand trial, and he remains in custody at North Texas State Hospital.
The victims and their families sat through weeks of grueling testimony.
PREVIOUS REPORT: Jury begins deliberations in civil trial against admitted Santa Fe High School shooter's parents
The jury, composed of eight men and four women, was sent to deliberate at about 4:50 p.m. Friday and adjourned for the day at 5:35 p.m. Deliberations resumed at 9 a.m. Monday. The jurors asked permission to continue their deliberations after 5 p.m. Monday, delivering their verdict minutes after 6 p.m.
Jurors were given 24 charges to respond to. Each charge had multiple questions they were asked to answer.
During Friday's closing arguments, Clint McGuire, the victims' attorney, said the case is about justice and accountability.
"We are here because (Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos) refused to accept any responsibility," McGuire said. "It was their son under their roof with their guns who went and committed this mass shooting."
McGuire showed the shirt that Dimitrios wore during the shooting that read, "Born to kill," and excerpts from his journal, one of which reads, "What I do will both have an immeasurable impact and be incredibly miniscule. I will have destroyed bloodlines spanning thousands of years." McGuire told jurors that the then-17-year-old had intent with what he was doing.
He urged the jurors to award the families of the deceased and the surviving victims $25 million each.
The attorneys for each victim took time during their one-hour and 20-minute closing argument to speak about each victim and their experience on May 18, 2018. Many of the attorneys were choked up while they spoke.
"We can't send our kids to school and bring them home in body bags," McGuire said.
Alton Todd represents Rhonda Hart, whose daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, was killed during the shooting. He said, "You could fill this room with money. Each one of these parents wants their child back. But money is all you can award. That's all. Nobody goes to jail. It's money. Your money will say something. It's not what it is. It's what it will say, and it needs to be heard loudly."
When Pagourtzis and Kosmetatos' attorney, Lori Laird, spoke, she said, "The reality is they are trying to make a case out of nothing. They are looking at little things that an ordinary person would not see as problematic and turn it into something that it's not."
She said that her clients did not know that their son was battling mental illness or planning the mass shooting. During her arguments, Laird showed photos on a projector of Dimitrios days before the shooting and pointed out that he looked normal.
The attorney quoted Socrates, saying, "You don't know what you don't know."
"He was sneaky, he was sly, he didn't want to get caught," Laird said.
Laird encouraged jurors to put their emotions aside to "effectively evaluate the facts of the case."
She argued that they are trying to hold the parents accountable for something that also made them victims.
Dimitrios, now 23, was also named a defendant in the lawsuit. His attorney, Roberto Torres, said his client is not a monster despite being referred to as one in the trial. He said he did a "monstrous" thing.
Torres said it is easy to "pick on one severely mentally disturbed young man who is going through a living hell" rather than blaming his parents or the gun industry.
He said Dimitrios had a demon and was in the "mother of all psychotic hurricanes" at the time of the shooting and that he "didn't have a chance."
"Let's blame the sick guy," Torres said.
The final witness in the case on Thursday was the psychiatrist who interviewed the admitted gunman. He told the jurors it was apparent during their interview that he suffered from a psychotic illness.
SEE ALSO: Psychiatrist paints disturbing image of Santa Fe HS suspect's mental state
Dimitrios was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Tourettes, social anxiety disorder, psychosis, OCD, a probable transvestite disorder, and anorexia, which was in remission.
Other witnesses who spoke during the trial include Dimitrios' father and younger sister.
His father, Antonios, said he didn't know his son had mental issues, which attorneys argued were evident due to falling grades, antisocial behavior, and an obsession with weapons.
READ MORE: Suspected Santa Fe HS shooter's sister testifies about upbringing as parents' attorneys present case
Antonios denied any responsibility in the shooting but said he wishes he would have been able to prevent what happened. He acknowledged that his son destroyed several lives on May 18, 2018.
When asked if he thought his son should be held accountable for what he did, he said he would leave that to a judge but that he destroyed his own life.
Dimitrios' younger sister, Vasiliki Gerbsoti, who is now 20 years old, testified that neither of her parents were abusive. She testified that she and her brother had a standard upbringing.
She said she had not noticed any changes to Dimitrios' behavior or personality before the shooting.
Full Statement from Dimitrios Pagourtzis' attorney Nick Poehl on civil trial verdict:
We are pleased with the jurys verdict, and that they were able to see through the emotionally-laden but relatively evidence-free case put on by the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs decision to concede the mental illness of Dimitrios Pagourtzis, after years of claiming he was faking his illness was certainly interesting, as was their decision not to call the expert witness theyd designated to the stand. The damages verdict against an indigent and hospitalized defendant who was incompetent to stand trial and appointed an attorney barely two months before trial, are decisions that an appellate court will have to look at in the future.
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