Jaycee Lee Dugard and kids get $ 20 million settlement

While kidnapper and registered sex offender Phillip Garrido and wife Nancy nevertheless have not gone to trial, CNN reports that Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two teenage daughters are the recipients of a $ 20 million settlement from their case against the California State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The lawsuit stemmed from Jaycee Dugard’s claim that parole agents were in dereliction of their duties when they failed to investigate Phillip Garrido’s residence more thoroughly, which would have uncovered the imprisonment of both herself and her young daughters in Garrido’s backyard. The bill appropriating the unprecedented $ 20 million Dugard settlement flew through very easily with a 30-1 vote within the California Senate and 62-0 in the California Assembly.

Source for this article: Jaycee Lee Dugard and kids receive $ 20 million settlement by Personal Money Store

For 18 years, Jaycee Lee Dugard was gone

No amount of money can be able to give give the now 30-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard and her family back the lost years when she lived in Phillip Garrido’s makeshift backyard prison. But the $ 20 million Dugard settlement will enable Jaycee Dugard to purchase a home, pay for her children’s education and obtain as much therapy as is necessary, among many other things. If nothing else, perhaps the scrutiny to the California State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s methods will prevent any person else from going through a comparable ordeal. As outlined by department’s report, “While it is true that Garrido’s California parole was never officially violated … the department failed to properly supervise Garrido and missed numerous opportunities to discover his victims.”

Against Dugard, state officials thought they had a case

While California State officials thought that they had enough information on their side to contest Jaycee Lee Dugard’s claim, they ultimately ruled that it was not worth bringing the case before a jury. Their case evidently would have hinged upon jurisdictional matters, reports CNN. Public relations for California would are bad. The state decided against passing the buck and claiming that it was the responsibility of federal parole officers (instead of California State parole officers).

Find more information here:

CNN

cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/01/california.dugard/?hpt=T1

AP report on $ 20 million Dugard settlement:

youtube.com/watch?v=nr7xF52DMRU