DETROIT – The family of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, the 7-year-old girl who was fatally shot during a Detroit police raid in 2010, has settled a civil case with the city for $8.25 million, according to the law firm representing the family.
Fieger Law confirmed the settlement on Thursday.
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Aiyana was shot in the head while she slept on a couch in May 2010. Police executed a midnight raid at the home. The shooting was not considered intentional but Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Weekley accidentally fired his gun, killing the girl, while leading officers on the raid to find a murder suspect. Officers say they did not know the girl would be sleeping inside the home. She was on the couch with her grandmother, Mertilla Jones, nearby.
Weekely said he pulled the trigger during a struggle with the girl's grandmother, but Mertilla Jones denied interfering with the gun.
Weekley went to trial twice, both ending in a hung jury. In January 2015, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy called this "unfortunate" as she announced the case was being dismissed. At the time, Worthy said she would continue fighting for justice.
Police were accompanied by a camera crew from "The First 48," which recorded it from the outside but not inside where Aiyana was shot.
Allison Howard, one of two A&E "The First 48" producers who filmed the Detroit police raid, pleaded no contest to obstruction of justice related to the release of the TV show footage. Howard also was charged with perjury but accepted the settlement offer from the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office. The perjury charge was dismissed.