Relatives of slain supervisor sue assailant, U.S. government

The relatives of James Brown are seeking $10 million in actual and/or compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

Charles Jennings is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole in the Dec. 19, 1996 shooting in the parking lot of a post office near McCarran International Airport.

Jennings claimed during his trial that he shot Brown accidentally during a botched suicide attempt. Jennings had learned just a few days before the shooting that he had lost an arbitration hearing and would be fired.

According to testimony, Jennings spent the next three days on a crack cocaine binge, drove to the post office, shot Brown, then turned himself in to police.

Prosecutors claimed the shooting was premeditated, and that Brown was shot for his role representing the Postal Service in the arbitration.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court here Thursday, tracks Jennings' troubled career with the Postal Service, dating back to 1974, and his history of drug and alcohol abuse.

"Jennings' questionable and problematical past did or should have put the U.S.P.S. on notice that he was not a stable individual and that his continued retention by the U.S.P.S. posed a risk," the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit contends that on 6 a.m. the day of the killing, Jennings was waved onto the secured employee parking lot at the post office by an employee "who did not check identification or perform any other security act."

Brown drove onto the lot shortly after 7 a.m.

"Jennings had a history of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, being absent without leave, of failing to adhere to U.S.P.S. policy, which the U.S.P.S. was aware of or should have been aware of in the exercise of reasonable care," the lawsuit contends. "U.S.P.S. negligently employed, rehired, retained and thereafter dismissed Jennings. The U.S.P.S. knew or should have known that Jennings had a dangerous disposition that posed a risk to Brown and to others."

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