Texas Walmart shooter agrees to pay more than $5M to families over 2019 racist attack

ⓝⓞ🅞🅝🅔@lemmy.ca to News@lemmy.world – 48 points – Texas Walmart shooter agrees to pay more than $5M to families over 2019 racist attack
apnews.com

Genuinely curious and ignorant about restitution from inmates who spend the read of their lives in prison.

How would he ever be able to pay 5M+ USD?

5

I've watched the Legal Eagle on YouTube, and what seems to usually happen is that the damages, regardless of whatever the jury says, oftentimes have maximums that they have to be knocked down to. The point of aiming that high seems to be for the jury to send a message. After that, IIRC, even though they'll never be able to pay it all back, their wages will be garnished effectively for the rest of their life. Given that most Americans, who haven't been convicted of a felony, have trouble living paycheck to paycheck? Not to mention the fact that your average felon is never going to get a job worth a damn again, if at all?

Basically if this guy ever gets out of jail (what she won't with all those life sentences) he won't really have any prospects in life whatsoever. I'm not really a fan of that second part. But our "justice" system is all about punishment, not reform, no matter what they may tell you on TV.

You can't garnish wages in Texas state cases unless it's for child support. The US Code allows for it in federal cases, but it's mostly in case this guy gets money on a book deal or something insane like that.

This isn’t something he should have to “agree” on.