Trial starting in 'Presumption of Fear' wrongful death lawsuit
Jury selection is expected to begin in Harnett County Superior Court Monday in the case of Griggs v. Chisenhall, a wrongful death lawsuit that was the subject of the WRAL multimedia investigative series “Presumption of Fear.”
The case grows out of the shooting death of Christian Griggs in 2013. Griggs was shot six times by his father-in-law, Pat Chisenhall, at Chisenhall’s home in Angier.
Chisenhall, a Harnett County minister, told authorities Griggs was trying to break into his house and that he was defending his home, himself and his daughter Katie, who was in the home and was married to Griggs at the time.
Christian and Katie Griggs were separated and had agreed to joint custody of their daughter, Jaden. Christian Griggs had gone to Chisenhall’s house that Saturday morning to pick up Jaden for a weekend visit.
Chisenhall said he shot Griggs with a .22-caliber rifle as Griggs tried to crawl in through a window. According to court records, Chisenhall hit Griggs six times -- once in the side, once in the shoulder and four times in the back.
He was never charged with a crime in the shooting, in part because local authorities determined that the shooting fell under North Carolina’s Castle Doctrine, a state law that allows people to use deadly force to defend their homes.
In their lawsuit, Griggs’ family argues that Chisenhall went farther than the law allows, and they take issue with several portions of Chisenhall’s account of the shooting.
The Griggses are asking for $10,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages. They say the money, should they win, will go to Christian and Katie’s daughter, Jaden.
The trial is expected to last a week.
