Jury awards $6 million in Rossum civil case

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 19, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A San Diego jury has awarded $6 million in damages to the parents of Gregory de Villers, who was poisoned by his wife, Kristin Rossum, in November 2000. The wrongful death suit was filed by de Villers

A San Diego jury has awarded $6 million in damages to the parents of Gregory de Villers, who was poisoned by his wife, Kristin Rossum, in November 2000. The wrongful death suit was filed by de Villers' parents against Rossum and San Diego County.

Rossum was a toxicologist for San Diego County at the time of her husband's
death.

Jurors also awarded $100 million in punitive damages against Kristin Rossum to ensure that the convicted killer couldn't profit from her life story.

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Caitlin Rother, is a San Diego Union-Tribune reporter and the author of a book
about Rossum's criminal trial.

Rother: What's interesting about a civil case is you assign a percentage of blame. So Kristin was assigned 75-percent of the blame and the county was assigned 25 percent of the blame which means since Kristin doesn't have any assets or money at this point-she's in prison for the rest of her life-that the county would be on the hook for $1.5 million dollars.

Rother spoke on the KPBS radio program These Days. County officials say they will appeal the jury's verdict.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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