UPDATE: Jury Awards $60M to Ethan Riley’s Family After Finding Connor Hilton’s Mom Negligent It took a jury less than 3 hours to decide that Johnece Hilton was negligent when she bought her son a gun, bought him weed and hosted parties with alcohol for Connor Hilton and his friends. The jury of 9 women and 3 unanimously found Johnece grossly negligent for not doing a better job of keeping her son away from a gun she kept in a safe and for not recognizing he was a possible danger to others. Tye jury determined that Johnece Hilton was 75% civilly liable for her son’s actions and Connor Hilton, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence after pleading guilty, 25% civilly liable. Terra and Matthew Riley were represented by Alton Todd, who successfully showed the jury that Johnece didn’t parent her son, rather tried to be his friend “and give him whatever he wanted.” That included the revolver that was used to kill Ethan Riley and seriously injured Benjamin Bliek. Bliek’s family reached a settlement with Johnece Hilton and her homeowners insurance company in a separate lawsuit. The insurance company’s attorneys - Mark Furmin and Stewart McSwain- argued that their client should not be held responsible for the actions of her adult son. Connor Hilton was 17 at the time of the shootings two years ago and in Texas classified as an adult. Whether the Riley’s will ever see money from the judgement is a big question mark. Indications are the settlement with Bliek’s family exhausted the funds available. Johnece Hilton has few assets, attorneys hinted during the trial. •••••••••••• Deliberation Starts for Jury Asked to Award $56 Million to Parents of Teen Shot and Killed by Friend The amount reflects the 56 years Ethan Riley’s parents are estimated to have to live without their son, who was shot by his friend Connor Hilton in 2023. Lawyers for Johnece Hilton, the mother of Connor, who shot two of his friends in the head, countered with a $2 million ask. Johnece and Connor are being sued by Tara Riley and Matthew Riley, alleging she allowed Connor access to a gun and was aware that he may become violent. After four days of witness accounts, never-before-seen video evidence, and heart-wrenching testimony from a dead teen’s family, a Galveston County jury on Friday began deliberating whether or not the murderer’s mom has any responsibility. The outcome will depend on whether the jury believes Johnece could’ve foreseen violent behavior from Connor and if she did enough to keep the gun and ammunition out of his hands. The plaintiff argued that she was guilty of gross neglegance because she didn’t keep Connor out of her gun safe after knowing he’d already gotten into the gun safe once, she’d used the same passcode as her phone, which he’d used regularly, and she left the ammunition in an unlocked and open compartment. The defense argued that she had made efforts to keep him away from having a loaded gun by buying the safe, locking the gun in it, and separating its ammunition. They went back and forth about whether she had concerns about Connor becoming violent. He’d stabbed pillows and watched crime documentaries often, they agreed, but the defense argued that that didn’t indicate violence. The jury will make its decision based on medical records, pictures and videos Connor posted to social media, evidence from the crime scene, and testimony from Ethan’s friends and family, Benjamin Bliek, who was also shot but survived with brain injuries, Connor’s school psychologist, the detective Connor confessed to, Connor’s parents and people who knew them. Testimony was often emotional, laying out the picture of a vibrant young life lost. It was also divided. Johnece said Connor had been doing better, mentally, in the months before the shooting. Numair Khalil, who had been Connor’s friend and hung out at the house, said Connor had been doing worse since breaking up with his girlfriend months before the shooting. Johnece had said she didn’t think recall giving Connor the code to her phone, which was the same as the code to the safe. Connor would frequently use her phone to order DoorDash for him and his friends, Khalil said. The plaintiff put 75% of the blame for the event on Johnece and 25% on Connor, arguing that she bore responsibility for protecting him from himself and keeping him away from the gun.

Posted by SAGE SCOTT at 2026-02-06 21:26:51 UTC