Attorney questions police shooting victim’s paternity

Former Columbus police officer Canyon Boykin (left), Ricky Ball (right). (YouTube and Facebook photos)
Former Columbus police officer Canyon Boykin (left), Ricky Ball (right). (YouTube and Facebook photos)
Former Columbus police officer Canyon Boykin (left), Ricky Ball (right). (YouTube and Facebook photos)

COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) – An attorney defending a former Columbus police officer against a wrongful death lawsuit questions whether the plaintiff is actually the father of the deceased.

In a motion filed Tuesday in federal court in Aberdeen, the Commercial Dispatch (http://bit.ly/2loDXFz) reports that attorney Jeffrey Reynolds stated that Ricky Martin’s relationship to Ricky Ball is unproven.

Former officer Canyon Boykin has said he shot Ball after the 26-year-old appeared to point a gun at Boykin during a foot chase in 2015. Boykin, who is white, faces manslaughter charges in addition to two civil suits.

Reynolds says Martin isn’t shown as Ball’s father on Ball’s birth certificate and questions whether he has standing to sue.

The lawyer says he also wants dismissed a second wrongful death lawsuit brought on behalf of Martin’s daughter.

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