LAW AGENCIES SUED OVER SHOOTING DEATH

Victim's Kin Seek Damages From Visalia Police, County Sheriff.

Lawyers agreed Wednesday that Michael Shane Merriott was a fugitive high on
methamphetamines in June 1997 when two Tulare County officers fatally shot
him while he was hiding in a tree.

But the lawyers are contesting nearly every other piece of evidence being
presented in the Merriott family's civil-rights case in U.S. District Court
in Fresno.

Among the issues is whether Merriott, 30, was armed and about to fire his
weapon when he was slain by Visalia police officer Jeff McIntosh and Tulare
County sheriff's deputy Greg Gruich.

Merriott's widow, Anita Brumley-Merriott, and mother, Patsy Merriott, are
seeking damages from the Visalia Police Department and Tulare County
Sheriff's Department. The lawsuit charges a violation of Merriott's civil
rights, wrongful death and trespassing.

If they prevail, they want jurors to decide the monetary amount for
damages, said their lawyer, Joseph A. Davis of Los Angeles.

Merriott had a history of drug abuse and owning guns, and a prior
conviction of burglary, court records said. But Davis said the criminal
offenses should not have resulted in Merriott being fatally shot.

Police officers and sheriff's deputies began searching for him after he was
mistakenly released from the Bob Wiley Detention Center on May 20, 1997. He
had been in jail since April 25 on suspicion of property theft and a parole
violation.

He was shot outside his mother's home on Avenue 271 near Road 128 south of
Visalia on June 14, 1997.

In opening statements Wednesday, Davis told jurors that Merriott was
unarmed and attempting to surrender when he was shot in the back. McIntosh
shot Merriott twice with a shotgun; Gruich shot Merriott four times with a
high-powered rifle, Davis said.

But the defendants' lawyers, Mike Woods and Leonard Herr, said their
clients had no choice but to fire at Merriott because sheriff's deputy
Keith Smith saw Merriott in the tree, holding a gun. As Merriott, who was
wearing camouflage clothing, rotated his body toward McIntosh and Gruich,
the two officers fired at him, Woods said.

Investigators found a .38-caliber revolver near the base of the tree and
later discovered a derringer in Merriott's chest pocket, Woods said.

In addition, Woods told jurors that about seven hours before he was slain,
Merriott showed an acquaintance a revolver and derringer and said he wasn't
going back to jail.

"I'm going out blazing," Merriott said, according to Woods.

Although Merriott's blood was on the revolver, Davis told jurors that
neither Merriott's fingerprints nor palm prints were on either firearm. He
also said some officers have said in deposition that they don't recall
seeing Smith at the crime scene, and that other people at the scene said
they don't remember seeing a revolver at the base of the tree.

Davis also told jurors that Merriott was taken down from the tree head
first. He questioned why items fell out of Merriott's pockets, but not the
derringer.

The derringer wasn't discovered until Merriott was stripped for an autopsy
two days after the shooting, Davis said.

Also found in Merriott's clothing were 17 .38-caliber bullets and two
rounds for the derringer, Woods said.