Jaycee Dugard was just 11 years old when Phillip Garrido kidnapped her. Garrido and his wife Nancy then held her captive for the next 18 years in a backyard enclosure in which he raped her repeatedly and fathered her two daughters.
Jaycee Dugard can’t sue government for failing to lock up her parole-breaking abductor https://t.co/yz4gFvQUb8 pic.twitter.com/mGm6It5yzN
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) March 17, 2016
On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit filed by Jaycee Dugard, alleging if federal parole officials would have revoked Garrido’s parole, she never would have been abducted.
In a two to one decision, the appeals court said Jaycee Dugard hadn’t been victimized by Garrino at the time he was placed under federal parole supervision, and added there was no way to have known she would become his victim.
NBC News reports that as a result, “federal authorities in California had no duty to protect her or other members of the general public from him,” according to the court. The decision upheld a lower court ruling.
Jaycee Dugard alleged in her lawsuit that parole officials should have returned Phillip Garrido to prison for one or more parole violations that took place prior to her abduction, including testing positive for drugs and alcohol.
It was back in 2009 when Jaycee Dugard was identified and rescued from Phillip and Nancy Garrido. Phillip Garrido took Dugard and her two girls to a parole meeting.
Phillip Garrido was sentenced to 431 years to life on charges he abducted and raped Jaycee Dugard. His wife, Nancy Garrido, was sentenced to 36 years to life.
Court Rejects Jaycee Dugard's Lawsuit Claiming Her Kidnapping Could've Been Avoided https://t.co/58tHzQfKBD pic.twitter.com/4YUH5qQTIH
— Cosmopolitan (@Cosmopolitan) March 16, 2016
Jaycee Dugard and her two daughters received a settlement in the amount of $20 million from the state of California.
Are you surprised the court rejected Jaycee Dugard’s lawsuit? Do you think if parole officers had done their job that she might not have been kidnapped and held captive for all those years?