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Woman sues over delay of warrant
Claims order sat for week; daughter killed
By Kim Wessel :: The Courier-Journal
The mother of a woman killed last September is suing Jefferson County and its Circuit Court clerk for allegedly failing to process an arrest warrant in time to prevent her daughter's death.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court yesterday, Christy Caldwell claims that on Sept. 19 -- the day her 25-year-old daughter, Rebecca Caldwell, was strangled -- a warrant for her killer's arrest had been sitting on a clerk's desk for seven days.
The suit alleges that Rebecca Caldwell "was in fear for her life," waiting for her boyfriend, Benjamin A. Mills Jr., to be arrested on assault charges stemming from an Aug. 9 attack on her.
A warrant for his arrest had been issued on Sept. 12 but was not processed and entered into the computer system until Sept. 19, according to the lawsuit.
"There is absolutely no excuse," said Christy Caldwell, who lives in Nelson County. "My daughter would still be alive today" if the warrant had been processed more quickly.
At the time of her death, Rebecca Caldwell's case helped highlight the problem of thousands of unserved warrants in Jefferson County -- a problem that police have since tried to address.
However, according to the lawsuit, the warrant for Mills' arrest may not have gotten to Louisville police in time for them to serve it before Caldwell was killed.
William J. Driscoll, Christy Caldwell's attorney, included a copy of the arrest warrant with the lawsuit and noted that it was signed and dated Sept. 12, but, as indicated on the warrant, was "generated" on Sept. 19. Driscoll said he hasn't been able to determine what happened to it.
"Whether it was lost or put in the wrong file, I can't tell you," he said.
But he doesn't fault the police.
The lawsuit, alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations, was filed against Jefferson County, Circuit Court Clerk Tony Miller, Judge-Executive Rebecca Jackson and unknown deputy clerks, court administrators or county employees. Debbie Linnig Michals, a spokesman for Miller's office, said she couldn't comment yesterday. She referred questions to Miller, who could not be reached.
Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, which would defend the county in the case, declined to comment while the lawsuit is pending.
In an interview after Rebecca Caldwell's death, Michals said that the arrest warrant would have left the courts no later than Sept. 13, a day after it was issued.
Louisville police have said that the warrant did not reach the district covering Old Louisville, where Caldwell and Mills lived, until Sept. 19. Warrants are delivered to police headquarters, sorted by district, then taken to the five district stations.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that the processing of domestic-violence arrest warrants in Jefferson County was "wholly inadequate." It claims that the county and the Circuit Court clerk's office failed to process warrants in a timely and efficient manner, and failed to give appropriate attention and priority to warrants arising from domestic violence.
Driscoll is asking a federal judge to issue an order requiring the Circuit Court clerk's office to process such warrants within 24 hours from the time they are issued. He is also asking a judge to issue "sufficient standards governing the handling and supervision of arrest warrants by Jefferson County."
Meanwhile, Mills, 22, is serving a life sentence for killing Caldwell, who was found strangled in their Old Louisville apartment. In February, he pleaded guilty to one count of murder. He also has pleaded guilty and admitted to assaulting her twice in the month leading up to her death.
Mills will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 20 years of his sentence.
Caldwell's case, as well as others, brought attention to a backlog of about 70,000 unserved warrants in Jefferson County. The Louisville police department has since adopted new procedures to speed up delivery of warrants: Each district now has an officer assigned specifically to serve warrants, and the department started sending a courier service to pick up warrants at Circuit Court twice a day.
Jefferson County police also responded with several initiatives, including assigning its River Patrol officers to serve warrants full time when it's not boating season.
Christy Caldwell thinks more can be done.
"We want domestic violence to be taken very, very seriously," she said. "Warrants stemming from domestic violence should be of the highest priority."
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