Three Black Lives Matter demonstrators confronted at gunpoint by former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s late husband in 2020 have settled the part of their lawsuit against the estate of the spouse of the county’s former top prosecutor.
The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit are Melina Abdullah, Dahlia Ferlito and Justin Marks. Last July, all three settled the portion of the case against Jackie Lacey, leaving for trial causes of action against the estate of David Lacey for assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
But on Wednesday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys filed court papers with Judge Theresa M. Traber informing her that they were in the process of obtaining signatures finalizing a settlement with the estate and that a request for dismissal will be filed with her once that is done. As with the accord with Jackie Lacey, no terms were divulged.
Trial was scheduled to begin Friday.
Abdullah is a professor and former chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies at Cal State Los Angeles and a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter. Lacey was criticized by Abdullah and other activists for declining to prosecute several law enforcement officers involved in fatal on-duty shootings during her two terms in office.
For several years, protesters, including BLM members, gathered in the hundreds outside the Hall of Justice, where Lacey’s office was located, every Wednesday to protest against Lacey, some with signs, noise amplifiers and drums, while chanting slogans such as, “Bye, Jackie” and “Jackie Lacey Must Go.”
The confrontation occurred when members of the group showed up at the couple’s Granada Hills residence the morning of March 2, 2020. The plaintiffs went to the Laceys’ home seeking to confront her for allegedly refusing to meet with them.
Lacey’s husband, David Lacey, opened the door after the plaintiffs rang the bell. Video images show him pointing a gun and saying he would shoot if the visitors did not get off his porch. David Lacey died Sept. 5, 2022.
The encounter at the Lacey home occurred a day before Lacey — now 67 years old and the first woman and first Black prosecutor to hold the top post since the office was created in 1850 — was forced into a runoff with former San Francisco County District Attorney George Gascón, who ultimately was elected.