Statement by the Marcus Deon Smith Legal Team

As a result of much blood, sweat and tears by the Marcus Smith family, community activists, and the Smith legal team, the Greensboro City Council voted last evening to settle the Marcus Deon Smith case by releasing the following joint statement:

The City of Greensboro and the family of Marcus Deon Smith have reached an agreement to resolve the lawsuit brought by the Estate of Marcus Deon Smith. Importantly to these parties, the total settlement of $2,570,000 (the majority of which will be paid by the City of Greensboro and the remainder by Guilford County) will financially benefit both the parents of Marcus Deon Smith and his children, and will formally acknowledge with a commemorative plaque that Marcus Deon Smith’s life mattered. These parties will soon request judicial approval of the settlement and dismissal of the lawsuit, without any findings of wrongdoing or liability. After the settlement is concluded, these parties intend to move forward in the spirit of respect and reconciliation.

While the details of the agreement are still confidential,we on the legal team and on behalf of the Smith family want to thank the activists of Greensboro and all those of goodwill in the Greensboro community for standing shoulder to shoulder with us in this long struggle for transparency and justice in the Marcus Deon Smith case. We are gratified that this agreement will honor Marcus’s deep love for his children and that the City of Greensboro will formally recognize that Marcus Deon Smith’s life matters.  

The Smith Legal Team 
Flint Taylor and Ben Elson of the People’s Law Office and Graham Holt