More than two months after plaintiff's attorneys filed for a retrial, a U.S. District Court judge is still deciding on the fate of the McKinney v. Duplain civil case.
According to the U.S. District Court Clerk's Office, Judge Richard Young had made no formal decision as of Wednesday afternoon whether the trial, which has cost Ball State University more than $1 million thus far, will go back to court.
On Feb. 4, a jury found that former Ball State police officer Robert Duplain did not use excessive force when he shot and killed then-senior Michael McKinney in 2003.
Plaintiff's attorneys from the law firm Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Johnson & Giroux, P.C. filed the retrial on Feb. 19, citing 17 reasons for the motions, according to a petition letter for the retrial.
In the letter, attorneys stated Duplain was denied a fair trial based on claims such as constitutional rights were violated, the verdict ignored crucial evidence and attorneys were not allowed to discuss Ball State investigation of the shooting as inadequate as evidence.
"Plaintiff alleged that Defendant violated Michael McKinney's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free violations from the use of unnecessary, unreasonable, excessive and/or deadly force," attorneys wrote in the letter.
According to the clerk's office, defense attorneys filed a response to the petition on March 5.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for communications and marketing, said in an April 7 interview that Ball State would continue to pay for court fees for Duplain. A statute requires that the university pay for the court fees because Duplain was an employee at the time of the incident, Proudfoot said.
So far, the trial has cost the university about $1.3 million, he said, all of which, except a $100,000 deductible, is covered by Ball State's insurance policy.
The McKinney family sued Duplain for $275 million after he shot Michael McKinney four times in the backyard of Muncie resident Jane Poole.
Poole had called police reporting that someone had been banging on her back door. After arriving on the scene, Duplain went to the backyard, where he said he found McKinney, who squared off with him and began to charge with his hands in his pockets.
After the incident, officials determined McKinney had a blood-alcohol content of .343 percent at the time of the shooting.
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