Appeals court to hear arguments from DSS officials in lawsuit over Braxton Wooden's death

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments by the Missouri Division of Social Services on why a wrongful death lawsuit filed in connection with the shooting death of eight-year-old Braxton Wooden should be dismissed.
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Washington University of Law in St. Louis. An earlier ruling in U. S. District Court denied the Division's motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis of sovereign immunity.

Braxton Wooden, while staying with foster parents Mark and Treva Gordon of Alba, was shot to death by their son, teenager Ethan Gordon.
In her lawsuit filed in 2005, Brandie McLean, Braxton Wooden's mother, blamed a number of people including the foster family, and the Missouri Division of Social Services. The Gordons settled with Ms. McLean, agreeing to pay $100,000, as noted in the July 7, 2006, Turner Report.

Social Services caseworkers John McGinnis and Mickey Morgan are defendants in the case.
According to the petition, "Ethan Gordon knew or should have known that the gun was loaded with ammunition."
Mark and Treva Gordon owned the 38 caliber Smith and Wesson gun that killed Braxton Wooden, as well as other weapons and ammunition, the petition said. "Weapons, specifically firearms, were accessible to the children in the foster home in violation of state foster care regulations and Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division policy."
The petition continues, "Mark and Treva Gordon knew or should have known the location in which they kept the gun was accessible to the minor child," and that Ethan Gordon "was not mature enough to exercise the proper degree of care in the use and control of the gun."
Ms. Morgan and her McGinnis, who was her manager and supervisor, were also responsible for Braxton Wooden's death, the lawsuit said, because they failed to determine "that Mark and Treva Gordon were unfit persons to act as foster parents."
The caseworkers also failed to "monitor" and to provide "adequate supervision and caseworker services to Braxton Deshawn Wooden," the petition said.
It also said the caseworkers failed to investigate whether hazardous items were accessible to children. The petition says, "Braxton Deshawn Wooden was subject to physical and emotional deprivation" and he suffered "severe and violent injuries," and was "subject to extreme emotional and psychological distress in that he suffered and endured an unstable family environment, humiliation, mental anguish and fear."
The state workers were "negligent, careless, grossly negligent, imprudent and reckless and totally without thought as to the safety and welfare of others and with complete indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others," the petition said.