PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL: PENSACOLA APARTMENT COMPLEX HELD LIABLE FOR MURDER
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 9:52AM 
Kevin Robinson, Staff Writer
7:58 p.m. CST November 5, 2014
Pensacola apartment complex held liable for murder
In a landmark court decision Tuesday, an Escambia County jury filed a $1.25 million civil verdict against the owners of a Pensacola apartment complex on grounds that its lack of security measures contributed to the murder of a Pensacola teen.
The family of Deovon Pugh, 19, filed a security negligence suit against Sutton Place Associates — the owners of Sunrise Apartments on 4350 W. Fairfield Drive — after Pugh was shot and killed Sept. 27, 2009, while visiting a friend at the complex.
According to the family's legal counsel, violence was rampant at the complex, and the ownership took minimal steps to address it.
"This is a complex that is (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) supported, and it had a history of crime prior to the incident," said the family's co-counsel, Samuel W. Bearman of Pensacola. "We contended that their security should have been much better."
The suit stemmed from an incident when Terrance Edwards, then 19, walked into the Sunrise Apartments with a shotgun following the theft of his uncle's car. It was about 3:40 a.m. when Edwards spotted Pugh and his friends sitting on a stairwell and demanded to know who stole the car. He then fired one shot, striking Pugh in the head.
Pugh, who was uninvolved in the car's theft, died at the scene. Edwards was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Sutton Place's counsel, Burt Taylor of Taylor Ritter P.C., contended that the murder was unforeseeable and unpreventable.
"This was a targeted shooting by someone who has been convicted of murder and put in jail," he said. "Neither (Pugh nor Edwards) were invited guests, and neither of their presences were known to the property."
Taylor said that during the six-day civil trial in Pensacola, Escambia County Sheriff's deputies and security experts testified that security at Sunrise Apartments was actually superior to other complexes in the area. Taylor said a deputy was on guard at the apartment complex seven hours a day, seven days a week.
"Security was not an issue then, and it has been improved since," Taylor said.
However, the Pugh's other counsel, Christopher Marlowe of The Haggard Law Firm, said that Deovon's death was the culmination of a pattern permissiveness and indifference from the ownership.
"Security and safety was not a priority for the people running this complex," he said.
According to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, one homicide (Pugh's), four aggravated assaults, one assault, 16 aggravated batteries, 55 batteries, 29 burglaries, one burglary of a business, eight robberies of individuals and 20 vehicle burglaries were reported at 4350 W. Fairfield between 2008 and 2010.
In August 2008, a 10-month-old baby was shot during a party at the complex. In September 2007, a man was shot in leg at the complex during a robbery. In April 2006, a woman was struck and killed by a driver fleeing police after burglarizing a unit at the complex.
Marlowe said as a basic measure of precaution, Sutton Place's ownership should have solicited the Sheriff's Office or a security expert to evaluate the crimes that occurred at the complex and recommend a security plan. Marlowe said during the civil trial, he asked Sutton Place's security expert what measures had been enacted in response to the criminal activity at Sunrise Apartments.
"I said, 'Tell me one thing this client did to address safety,' and he couldn't tell me one," Marlowe said.
After deliberating Tuesday night, the jury returned a verdict stating that negligence on the part of Sutton Place Associates was a legal cause in Deovon's death. The verdict called for damages of $625,000 to be awarded individually to both Pugh's mother and father.
"(The jury) listened to the evidence and agreed with us," Bearman said. "You don't get one free murder. You don't get to react after the fact. You have to be aware that your business is in a high-crime area. You can't ignore that."
Taylor said he could not comment on whether Sutton Place would appeal the decision, and that the company was exploring all its options.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Maria "Mari" Salazar
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Reader Comments (1)
It is pathetic, security is the primary thing to consider before taking an apartment for rent, the apartment owners would be strict on it, It is also a matter of shame for the owner of pensacola, how can such thing can happen?