With Kozak murder trial over, evidence comes into play in civil case

Although Alexander Kozak was convicted last month of murdering Andrea Farrington inside the Coral Ridge Mall last year, the liability questions of who pays how much money for it will now play out in civil court.

Farrington's parents, Cheryl and David Farrington of Montezuma, have sued Kozak, the Coralville mall and its parent company, General Growth Properties, and Universal Protection Service, which employed Kozak as a mall security guard.

The lawsuit, filed in January in Johnson County District Court, asks that a jury determine the extent of liability for each of the defendants in Farrington's June 12, 2015, murder. The trial is set for September 2017.

Testimony and evidence used in last month's criminal trial - about Kozak's relationship with Farrington; complaints she made about him to his employer; his job training and disciplinary action - will now be used in the civil case.

But who will it help: the parents or the defendants? Possibly both, depending on which evidence is allowed at the civil trial, said a Cedar Rapids lawyer who has handled personal injury and negligence claims for 18 years.

'It may come down to the Watergate question: Who knew what when, and what did they know?” said Tim Semelroth.

Semelroth, who followed the criminal case, said the trial revelations that 'jump out” at him include Farrington telling Kozak's employer it 'creeped her out” that he knew where she parked in the mall lot, which in turn should have 'put the employer on notice” that there may be an issue with Kozak.

For the defendants, they could argue there's no way they could have predicted Kozak's violence toward Farrington, Semelroth pointed out. According to testimony, two of Kozak's supervisors didn't know he and Farrington had an on-again, off-again relationship.

A Story County jury found Kozak, 23, of North Liberty, guilty of first-degree murder April 25. He shot Farrington, 20, three times in the back while she worked in the welcome center outside the Iowa Children's Museum at the mall. The nearly two week trial was moved from Johnson County to Nevada due to pretrial publicity.

At trial, Kozak's defense asserted he had mental disorders that caused his 'cold fury” when Farrington broke it off with him that day. The jury didn't agree, returning with a guilty verdict within 90 minutes of getting the case.

Testimony showed that Kozak's employer knew of concerns about him in April 2015 - about two months before the murder - testimony showed.

Saiprasong Insisiengmay, Universal Protection Service security director, testified he gave Kozak a verbal reprimand and moved him to a different patrol area in the mall, away from the welcome center. But that didn't deter Kozak. Another supervisor said Farrington reported on June 2, 2015, that Kozak was at the welcome center.

Another complaint that stands out to Semelroth is that Kozak was written up for having pulled pepper spray on rowdy teens in the mall, which could show his 'propensity towards violence.”

One of the 'fighting” issues in the civil case, he said, could be over text messages exchanged between Kozak and Farrington. If they are found admissible, they could help the mall and Universal because the digital relationship between the two appears to have been kept from supervisors. Kozak was married and Farrington lived with her boyfriend.

Evidence at trial showed that Kozak and Farrington had exchanged thousands of text messages, many sexual in nature, but never had a physical relationship.

Monica Nadeau, general manager of Coral Ridge Mall, said this week that due to the pending litigation, she could not comment. Universal Protection Service did not return a phone message this week.

Semelroth said the Farringtons' attorneys will highlight how security employees are hired, what kind of training they get and whether there are any complaints about the employee - all zeroing in on the question of liability, Semelroth said.

Tom Conley, a security and risk management expert and president and chief executive officer of the Conley Group in Des Moines, said the security guards don't get proper training, which is a 'systemic problem that goes back to the state of Iowa, which doesn't require security guards to have training.”

Conley, a former police captain and naval officer, said the 'common thread” among security companies that provide guards is inadequate employment background checks, training, supervision and problems with retention.

'It's basically like the 1950s night watchman you saw on TV - they are bodies in uniform,” Conley said. 'The public should know just because they see security, they can't count on it being safe.”

According to testimony, Universal conducts a basic background check. Its guard hires are required only to watch training videos. They are given pepper spray, but there was no information given at trial whether they get training on using it.