$7 Million Jury Verdict for Sons of Allen Cates, Killed by Jackson County Deputy During 2019 Arrest

On September 12, 2019, Jackson County Deputy Tyler Naudet and Independence police officers went to East 25th Street and Hawthorne Avenue in Independence to arrest Allen Cates on a felony warrant. Cates, 29, was suspected in a series of car break-ins. He was sitting in a parked car with a passenger, Randi McGaugh, when the vehicle began to move.

Naudet fired five times, four of them through the windshield. Cates was struck four times in the neck and chest and died. McGaugh was hit in the shoulder and back. Cates left two sons. The older was nine at the time of his death, and the younger was born about two months afterward.

The boys' wrongful death claim was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in July 2020, together with McGaugh's separate claim. Thomas Porto of The Popham Law Firm was plaintiffs' counsel at trial. Jury selection began on May 13, 2024, before Judge Cory Atkins, and the jury heard six days of trial. The defense argued that officers had given commands and that Cates put the car in drive and headed directly toward the deputy. Porto said afterward that the defense had tried to diminish the value of Cates's life because he struggled with addiction, and that Naudet 'had no idea what he was shooting.'

On May 24, 2024, the jury returned a $7 million verdict for Cates's two sons on a wrongful death claim submitted as a battery, meaning an intentional tort. It also found for McGaugh on a separate negligence claim. Naudet remained employed by the sheriff's office after the verdict, and the Jackson County Counselor said the county would appeal.

The appeal was decided on March 10, 2026, in McGaugh v. Naudet (WD87542, consolidated with WD87576). Naudet argued that official immunity protected him. The Western District Court of Appeals disagreed as to the children's claim: because the jury decided it as an intentional tort, and Naudet had deliberately fired at Cates, the malice exception applied and immunity gave no shield. The court also rejected his arguments that the shooting was justified under Missouri statute and that the jury was given wrong instructions on self-defense.

The court reached the opposite result on McGaugh's claim. Her verdict rested on negligence, and the court found no evidence that Naudet intended to injure her, so it entered judgment for the deputy on that claim. The judgment for Cates's sons stood as entered.