Philando Castile was shot to death by a trigger-happy former St. Anthony police officer during a traffic stop last year. The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with his mother, Valerie Castile, for $3 million.
Now his parents are battling over the millions.
Philando’s father, Phelix H. Frazier Sr., who sired him 32 years ago and helped raise him to be a man, now wants his share of the $3 million settlement.
A Hennepin County judge says she will likely approve Valerie Castile’s request for the entire amount — less attorney’s fees — because her son’s father was “not present” and “made no claims to the money.”
But Frazier says that’s a lie.
Frazier told the Star Tribune he was “totally blindsided by (Valerie’s) lack of compassion.” He said he feared she would distribute the cash to family members and leave him penniless.
“It was not just Valerie’s loss,” he wrote from a Greenville penitentiary, adding he felt he deserved at least $500,000.
“On some level I believe I will miss Philando (more) than most because of what we ‘were not’ able to do together,” he wrote.
District Judge Susan Robiner on Wednesday said that while she was “impressed” with Frazier’s objections, that he did not qualify for any of the funds.
According to the NY Daily News, Frazier is currently serving a life sentence for a heroin trafficking ring and running a criminal enterprise.
The judge also said Philando’s half sister, Allysza Castile, did not deserve any of the money because her lifestyle that is “not conducive to her receipt of a large sum of money at this time.”
According to the Star Tribune, Allysza said she trusted her mother, before breaking down in tears.
“They’ve always taken care of me,” she told the judge. “I don’t feel I need anything distributed to me.”
