Ex-Kevorkian attorney Fieger asks $250 million for family of black victim in Columbine shootings

By April M. Washington
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

The family of Isaiah Shoels will sue the parents of Columbine High killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold for $250 million, the Shoelses' attorneys said Wednesday.

Isaiah was killed in the April 20 attack at the school.

Michigan lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, best known for representing Dr. Jack Kevorkian and suing talk-show host Jenny Jones, said he will file a wrongful-death lawsuit today in state court on behalf of Michael and Vonda Shoels.

Tom and Sue Klebold's attorney declined to comment because she had not seen the suit. Wayne and Kathy Harris could not be reached for a statement.

Fieger said the suit will contend the Klebolds and Harrises ignored warning signs that preceded the shootings that left 15 dead and 23 hospitalized.

"Justice demands a full accounting of everyone who significantly contributed to this massacre," Fieger said. "Klebold and Harris could not have developed and executed their violence without the negligence of the parents and possibly others."

Fieger contends Isaiah was singled out for execution because he was black. He says Klebold and Harris were infatuated with Adolf Hitler and carried the attack on the German dictator's birthday.

Witnesses have said one of the gunmen during the shooting boasted that they were out to kill black people and then shot Isaiah.

Fieger met with the Shoelses and their Littleton attorney, Jack Beam, on Wednesday.

The legal action is the first in a series of lawsuits expected to be filed on behalf of the Shoelses.

Fieger said he intends to sue anyone who assisted in the murders, school authorities and police who failed to take protective measures, the gun manufacturers and "any individual who directly contributed to two sick children possessing an arsenal and access to the school."

"I don't want anybody to think we are doing this for the money," said Michael Shoels, who visited Fairmount Cemetery on Wednesday. "Money cannot replace my son whose grave I'm standing on right now.

"This is about a change. I need people to be responsible for their children. That's what I want."

Neither the Klebolds nor the Harrises have been charged with a crime.

The Klebolds, who have been interviewed by police, have told friends they had no idea their son was planning the attack. Dylan had just visited the University of Arizona and planned to enroll this fall.

The Harrises have refused to talk to police unless they are granted immunity from prosecution.

Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone has been critical of the Harrises, contending they should have known about their son's criminal activities. He said officers searching the Harrises' home found the sawed-off barrel of a shotgun on the boy's dresser.

Police have said that bombs used in the school attack were built at the Harris home in southern Jefferson County.

Although police can't compel the Harrises to talk, the Shoelses' attorneys, by law, will be able to question them after the lawsuit is filed.

State law limits the amount of damages that can be collected to a total of $250,000, unless the Shoelses can prove that the two gunmen's parents had prior knowledge of the attack.

Also, the Shoelses must show that the alleged negligence by the parents of Klebold and Harris resulted in a felony, said Scott Robinson, a Denver criminal defense lawyer who specializes in wrongful-death lawsuits.

Robinson questioned the $250 million figure Fieger is using. He said state court rules prohibit asking for specific dollar amounts in lawsuits.

"If he files such a suit," Robinson said, "that will tell us that it is someone who hasn't done his homework or doesn't know the law, and quite frankly, doesn't care about the Shoelses."

Beam argues that the gunmen's previous run-ins with the law make the Shoelses' lawsuit a solid one.

The teen-agers served time in a juvenile diversion program after being arrested for a 1998 auto burglary.

About the same time as the car break-in, Randy and Judy Brown warned deputies that Eric Harris had a Web site in which he threatened to kill people, including their son Brooks. The site also described how to make and explode pipe bombs.

"If you look at all these terrible school shootings around the country, I do believe Columbine is the first in which the killers had previous criminal records," Beam said.

"If a kid just goes crazy one day without prior notice, that's a different situation. But these are kids that had been through the juvenile justice system. If that doesn't send up a red flag, I don't know what does."