Overview

• David Walls-Kaufman was ordered to pay $380,000 in punitive damages and $120,000 in compensatory damages to Officer Smith’s widow, Erin Smith, and to his estate
• U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes dismissed Erin Smith’s wrongful-death claim before jurors began deliberations, limiting the case to the assault allegation
• Officer Jeffrey Smith died by suicide nine days after the Jan. 6 attack, and a D.C. Police and Firefighters’ board ruled his on-duty head injury was the sole and direct cause of death
• Walls-Kaufman, who served a 60-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to a Jan. 6 misdemeanor, denies striking Smith and maintains another rioter inflicted the officer’s injury
• The verdict highlights ongoing accountability challenges for Jan. 6 participants and intensifies debate over President Trump’s pardons of those involved