Suit by Slain Woman’s Family Dismissed

A Ventura County judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by the family of a 90-year-old murder victim, ruling that Ventura police and county health workers had no obligation to confine the mental patient who escaped and stabbed the woman to death in her home.

The ruling by Superior Court Judge John J. Hunter came at the request of attorneys for Ventura city and county, who argued that the lawsuit contained no legal grounds to proceed through the court system.

Velasta Johnson’s widower, Clyde, her two daughters and grandson filed the lawsuit in October, alleging that negligence by police and health agencies allowed Kevin Jon Kolodziej to roam free and commit the murder.

Kolodziej, 25, is serving a prison sentence of 16 years to life for second-degree murder. According to testimony at his trial, he has a history of mental problems that began at age 6.

The suit alleged that Ventura Police Officers John Snowling and Alex Marquez were negligent Jan. 17, 1992, when they stopped and questioned Kolodziej while he was wandering in Johnson’s neighborhood, but let him go.

Kolodziej, a drifter, had walked away moments earlier from the nearby Ventura County Medical Center, where he was being treated for self-inflicted stab wounds and schizophrenia. Although he was wearing hospital pajamas and restraints were hanging from his body when police saw him, the officers decided Kolodziej was not a danger to himself or others and thus could not be forced to return to the hospital.

Kolodziej then walked into Johnson’s house and stabbed her once with a knife that he found lying on a pie in the kitchen.

Hunter ruled that the county, its Mental Health Services and the medical center were immune from liability, had no responsibility to confine Kolodziej and no legal obligation to Johnson’s family.

Hunter also dismissed an allegation that negligence caused the family to suffer emotional distress, ruling that because none of Johnson’s relatives were present during the stabbing, they could not collect damages.

In a separate written decision, Hunter dismissed the lawsuit against the city of Ventura and the two police officers. The judgment did not specify the grounds for dismissal.

Hunter ruled that the family cannot refile the lawsuit using a different legal argument.

“Of course I’m disappointed, because everybody knows those police officers made a terrible, terrible mistake in letting him go,” said Jacquelyn Thetford, Johnson’s daughter. “They have to live with themselves. I have to live with my mother’s death because of their stupidity.”

Thetford said she understands why the judge ruled the way he did, and she complained that the law gives public agencies far too much protection from being held accountable for their actions.

“I will always blame the hospital; I will always blame the Police Department,” she said.