Hahn v. HeislerA retired Mercer County sheriff’s officer and his wife won a $6 million dollar judgment against the man who shot him, causing severe injuries that ended his law enforcement career. Szaferman Lakind partner Craig Hubert represents the plaintiffs, Joshua and Doris Hahn. The defendant, Vasil “Billy” Heisler, was convicted of attempted murder and weapons offenses in January in a Burlington County court. He was sentenced in June to fifty years in prison.
The total amount included lost wages, pain and suffering, punitive damages and losses incurred by Joshua’s wife, Doris Hahn.
In 2007, Joshua Hahn and his father encountered Heisler fighting with his sister in a Hamilton parking lot. Hahn tried to intervene when Heisler shot him in the chest. The bullet punctured both lungs and shattered a vertebrae in his spine. He later retired from the sheriff’s office due to his permanent disability.
“The judge found that Billy’s actions were intentional and that the conduct, in and of itself, showed intent to harm with reckless indifference to the value of human life,” Craig says. In support of the punitive damages judgment, Craig argued to the court that, “Billy has never shown any remorse for discharging a firearm into Josh’s chest.”
Szaferman Lakind is pursuing Heisler’s assets to satisfy the judgment.
