Widow’s Suit Seeks Damages in Gold for Deaths of Husband and Son in Cop Shootout
A Florida widow has filed a lawsuit in the deaths of her son and husband in a police shootout that highlights her belief in the gold standard.
The suit filed by Donna Lee Wray-Kane seeks $75,000 in damages for the deaths of her husband, Jerry Kane, and 16-year-old son, Joseph, report the Associated Press and the Commercial Appeal. The damages, she says, should be paid in gold. The idea stems from the belief of those in the sovereign citizens movement that the nation wrongly abandoned the gold standard.
Jerry and Joseph Kane died in a police shootout last May about 90 minutes after the teen shot and killed two police officers from West Memphis, Ark., in a traffic stop.
West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert, whose son was one of the two officers killed, told the Commercial Appeal he was considering his own lawsuit. “I’m tired of police officers being stomped on by frivolous lawsuits,” Paudert said. “It’s time we stand up for our rights. We lost our son and she’s filing a lawsuit? I’m not going to sit back and let [sovereign citizens] come at me.”
Meanwhile U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara of Tampa threatened to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the complaint is “nothing more than a nonsensical recitation” of laws, constitutions and international treaties.
