After initial payout reduced, jury awards $3.25 million to family of man killed by St. Paul police

A jury has awarded a total of $3.25 million to the family of a man shot and killed by St. Paul police officers more than seven years ago during a drug-induced mental health crisis.

The three-day trial, unfolding in a federal courtroom in Minneapolis, marked the second time in as many years Kim Handy-Jones has watched attorneys debate the value of the life of her son, Cordale Quinn Handy. In 2023, after a separate trial, a jury found the city and St. Paul police officer Nathaniel Younce liable for Handy’s death. That jury awarded the family $11.5 million in damages.

But last February, Senior U.S. District Judge David Doty rejected the amount, saying it “shock[ed] the conscience” based on the facts presented at trial. Given the options of taking a payout capped at $2.5 million or going to another trial for compensatory damages, Handy-Jones chose the latter.

Outside the courtroom Monday morning, after the verdict, Handy-Jones criticized Doty for reducing the previous award and then recusing himself from the case.

“That shocks my conscience,” she said. “It makes me wonder, does he even have a conscience?

“It’s a life — that’s what’s important,” Handy-Jones continued. “My son had life. A St. Paul policeman took it from him.”

“The trials surrounding the death of Cordale Handy have been challenging for the city, the family, and the residents of Saint Paul,” City Attorney Lyndsey Olson said in a statement. “We appreciate the time and attention of the jury in rendering its verdict and hope it will provide closure to all those involved.”

In opening statements, Stephanie Angolkar, an attorney representing St. Paul, told the jurors the amount they award the family should not be based on how much he was loved or how much grief his mother has endured.

“Of course he mattered and he was loved by his family,” she told jurors. “I’ll tell you right now, we’re not asking [for the payout to be] zero.”

Handy-Jones plans to appeal the decision, said family attorney Kevin O’Connor. He said St. Paul’s lawyers “poisoned” the jury by “making up a story that he’s a gang member” without providing evidence.

On March 15, 2017, St. Paul officers were dispatched to Handy’s apartment in the 700 block of E. 6th Street, after he called 911 claiming there was a person in his apartment trying to harm him. Handy was experiencing hallucinations after taking a drug, which attorneys for St. Paul identified as N-Ethylpentylone — a substance commonly known as “bath salts.” Handy fired 16 shots from a handgun into a sofa, believing someone was hiding in the couch, according to court documents.

The officers, Younce and Mikko Norman, found Handy on Sinnen Street between E. 6th and 7th streets. The officers opened fire, killing Handy, after they said he pointed the gun at them. Attorneys for Handy’s family contended he was not pointing the weapon at the police. St. Paul police were not yet using body cameras, so there is no video of the incident.

Neither officer was charged with a crime, and the jury did not find Norman civilly liable for the killing.

With the liability question answered in the previous case, Senior Judge John Tunheim instructed the jury this time only to determine damages. He said the analysis should be divided into two categories: what the family members suffered from Handy’s death to the time of trial, and what they will suffer in the future based upon life expectancy.

Tunheim instructed the jury to consider a list of factors, including past earnings, future earning capacity, reasonable expenses for funeral and burial, and lost time, guidance and comfort. He told the jury not to consider punishment for the defendant, nor grief or emotional distress. The verdict designates $1.5 million for past damages and the rest for future ones.

O’Connor noted this jury’s verdict came in above the $2.5 million cap set by Doty.

“The appellate court has to decide which verdict needs to stand,” said O’Connor. “You generally don’t get two chances with two different juries to argue your case and try to come up with a lower number. And they took some low shots.”