A wrongful death suit filed July 30 against Dorothy and Joseph McTear by Carolyn Mosley Samuel alleges that the couple’s failure to control and supervise their son, 16-year-old Marcus, caused the death of Mosley Samuel’s 15-year-old daughter Ortralla Mosley.
Mosley was stabbed to death on March 28 in a Reagan High School hallway by Marcus McTear, her former boyfriend and a fellow student. In June, McTear plead “true” to the charges against him (the juvenile-court equivalent of guilty) and received a 40-year determinate sentence. Prosecutors had sought to certify McTear to stand trial as an adult, but District Judge Jeanne Meurer refused. Testimony presented during the certification hearing suggested that McTear was the product of an abusive family and had a history of turbulent relationships with girls, including Mosley. In court, Mosley Samuel testified that she had begged the elder McTears to get Marcus some counseling, but they refused. Two days later, Mosley was dead.
In her wrongful-death suit, Mosley Samuel argues that Joseph and Dorothy McTear had “at all times” the “duty of control, supervision and discipline” of Marcus and that their failure to exercise responsibility over their son caused Mosley’s murder. The McTears were aware of their minor son’s “violent propensities prior to the stabbing, including toward women and his girlfriends,” the suit reads. It also alleges that the McTears failed to provide Marcus with “reasonable and necessary medical, psychiatric and psychological care,” and that they failed to “maintain an appropriate environment in the family unit, fostering personality traits in Marcus McTear that resulted in [the] death of Ortralla Mosley.” Dorothy and Joseph McTear have 30 days to file a response to the suit.
Meanwhile, whether Mosley Samuel will also file suit against Austin ISD remains to be seen. Ortralla Mosley’s death prompted the district to form a four-lawyer Reagan High safety review team, which delivered its report to the AISD board of trustees this week; the board will review the report before deciding whether to make part or all of it public. The district also has appointed a 21-member Community Safety Task Force to help formulate individual campus safety plans and a “comprehensive” districtwide plan (a recommendation is due to the board in October). But, whether the district and Reagan maintained and followed adequate safety controls prior to Mosley’s death is still a matter for debate. Mosley Samuel’s attorney Sergei Kachura said he is still “conducting an investigation” into the district’s “potential liability.”
This article appears in August 8 • 2003.