Dorner Reward Loophole: Los Angeles May Not Have To Pay For Information

The city of Los Angeles offered a lot of money for information regarding the whereabouts of Christopher Dorner, but, after last night’s shootout, the city may be off the hook for their $1 million reward. According to the legalese in the offer, there are a few big loopholes that the LAPD may be able to crawl through.

According to TMZ, there were three major awards offered for information about Dorner. The LA City Council and the LA County Board of Supervisors both offered a $100,000 reward, and the Mayor of Los Angeles offered a $1 million reward.

All of those offers may be void, however, since Dorner was killed during the shootout last night and not captured.

According to CBS, hundreds of tips poured in after Los Angeles put up a $1 million reward, and many believe that those tips directly led police to the cabin in Big Bear. The police may have used citizen information to find Dorner but that doesn’t mean that they’ll have to pay up.

You see, the Mayor of Los Angeles offered $1 million for the “capture and conviction” of Christopher Dorner, but the former officer was presumably killed in the cabin fire last night. And, if Dorner is dead, then it’s going to be pretty hard to convict him. There’s the loophole: No conviction equals no money.

The LA City Council and the LA County Board of Supervisors may also be able to slip through a similar Dorner reward loophole. The City Council offered money for the “the identification, apprehension, and conviction” of Dorner while the Board of Supervisors offered a reward for Dorner’s capture.

But Dorner wasn’t captured, and he certainly wasn’t convicted.

The LAPD may have used citizen information to find Dorner, but, since they weren’t able to take him alive, they probably won’t have to pay a cent to anyone. That, of course, makes the cabin fire last night even more suspicious.

NY Mag reports that two maids are being credited with the tip that led police to Dorner. LAPD spokesperson Richard French said that the department is still talking about how (or if) they will hand out the reward.

French said:

“When there are rewards like this, they have to sit down with investigators and others, including the people who are offering the reward, the organizations who were offering the reward, and they have to kind of figure out how, or if, the reward is going to be distributed.”

Do you think the city of Los Angeles should pay out the reward money?