By John Futty
The Columbus Dispatch
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A woman who was held hostage by an escaped inmate at a Hilliard business in 2007 settled her lawsuit with a private-prison company and two guards yesterday after a week of testimony in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Karen Zappitelli and her husband, John, reached a confidential settlement with Corrections Corporation of America and the guards as the final witness for the couple was waiting to take the stand in the morning, said Rex Elliott, one of the couple’s attorneys.
“Today is a day where a sense of relief has been provided,” Elliott said. “This enables them to close the book on this chapter in their lives.”
Attorneys for both sides began negotiating early yesterday at the urging of Judge Michael J. Holbrook.
“The judge thought that it was a good time in the trial to have that discussion, at the end of our case and before the defense began its case,” Elliott said.
The jurors were excused after hearing from 16 witnesses over five days.
A spokesman for Corrections Corporation of America did not return a message seeking comment.
Mrs. Zappitelli, 45, testified Monday afternoon, detailing the three hours she spent as the hostage of fugitive inmate Billy Jack Fitzmorris. He broke into her husband’s accounting business on April 2, 2007, at the end of a crime rampage that began when he overpowered the two guards at a Youngstown hospital.
When testimony ended Monday, jurors were hearing from one of two psychologists who diagnosed Mrs. Zappitelli with
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mrs. Zappitelli said she has been plagued by anxiety, nightmares, sleeping problems and a fear of being alone since the incident. The lawsuit accused Corrections Corporation of America and the guards, David Johnson and Brian Morgan, of negligence in Fitzmorris’ escape and sought monetary damages for the couple’s emotional suffering.
Fitzmorris was taken to St. Elizabeth Medical Center from the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, a private prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America, for treatment of a head injury. Zappitelli’s attorney said he used toenail clippers to cut the Flex Cuffs holding him to a hospital bed and overpowered one of the guards when the other left for a restroom break.
Fitzmorris took a gun from one guard and a uniform from the other before stealing a car, driving to central Ohio and robbing banks in Powell and Upper Arlington. He crashed the car in Hilliard during a chase with police and fled to Mr. Zappitelli’s business, kicking in the door and forcing Mrs. Zappitelli, the office manger, upstairs.
He surrendered and released her after police gave him a pizza. Mr. Zappitelli waited outside behind a police barricade during the siege.
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