FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The family of slain Palm Beach County motorist Corey Jones is asking a federal court to revive its lawsuit against the city of Palm Beach Gardens and former police officer Nouman Raja, arguing that the criminal case is over, Raja is serving a 25-year sentence and his initial appeals have been exhausted.
In 2019, Raja became the first Florida cop in three decades to be convicted for an on-duty shooting. Four years earlier, the 31-year-old Jones was calling for a tow truck for his broken-down SUV when he was confronted by Raja, who had been working in plain clothes for a car burglary operation.
An audio recording showed Raja failed to identify himself as a police officer and acted as the aggressor during the encounter.
An appeals court rejected Raja’s justifiable force defense, and the Florida Supreme Court declined to take up the case last November.
The door remained open for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the deadline for that action passed earlier this month.
The federal civil suit has been on hold since 2016, when Raja successfully argued that his civil testimony could be used against him in his criminal case, a violation of his rights under the Fifth Amendment. With his appeals exhausted, attorney Daryl Parks, representing the Jones family, is asking the federal court to allow the case to move forward.
Parks is joined in his motion by attorneys representing Palm Beach Gardens, who are defendants in the lawsuit.
No decision has been handed down.
———
