Don't Know What You Got 'Till It's Gone

By Shannon in News on Dec 30, 2006 6:00PM

Say you were wronged grievously by the government. You want them to pay, and pay big. You sue the two individual agents responsible for your downfall successfully, and get a nice chunk of change. Then, suddenly, the huge sum you just received is revoked, and you get bupkus. And it's all your fault.

That's the situation an ex-cop from Chicago found himself in on Wednesday. Steven Manning got himself mixed up in some FBI dealings in the '80s and '90s and paid heavily for it. Back in the day, Manning freelanced for agents Robert Buchan and Gary Miller, working as an informant after leaving the force. Manning claims that when he didn't want to be part of Operation Weasel Snitch anymore, Buchan and Miller sent him down the river for kidnapping two Kansas City, MO drug dealers (in 1984) and murdering the owner of a suburban trucking company, Jimmy Pellegrino (in 1990). The former police officer ended up doing a total of 14 years in the pokey - eight of which were on death row before the murder conviction was overturned for improper evidence.

That's all well and good, but what about the money? We're getting to that. Last year, Manning sued both Buchan and Miller for throwing him under the bus, to the tune of over $6.5 million. He won, extracting some small payback for his years in jail. Unfortunately, in a very Bad Idea Jeans move, Manning then proceeded to sue the entire federal government under a virtually identical claim. Not only did he lose the second trial, the U.S. District Judge went back and ruled that since Manning lost the umbrella lawsuit, the original amount he had won against the two individual agents was now null and void. Naturally an appeal will be in the works, but for now the ex-cop, for want of too much, stands to get a steaming pile of jack shit. Happy New Year!