Wrongful Conviction Lawsuit Defense Blog : Wrongful Conviction Defense Lawyer & Attorney : Andrew M. Hale Law Firm

In 2005, Maria Guzman filed a civil rights lawsuit against Chicago police officers claiming her home was illegally searches and she was unlawfully detained.  Police officers had a valid search warrant. The search warrant was for a single family residence.  After being in Guzman's home for twenty minutes, police officers realized that it was not a single family residence as it appeared from outside - so they left.  Defendants won summary judgment, but the case was reversed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court held that the search was illegal because the officers should have known they were not in a single family home and left earlier.  

At her damages trial, Guzman claimed she was "emotionally distressed" by these twenty minutes. Guzman claimed police put her unborn baby into distress and caused her to have contractions when she was only thirty weeks pregnant. Guzman asked the the jury for thousands of dollars in "medical expenses" and unspecified damages for "emotional distress."  

The jury saw right through it all and came back in under two hours  with a $1 verdict for the "technical violation."

Mary McCahill, Anne Preston, and Tom Platt of the Corporation Counsel's Office represented the police officers.

Larry Jackowiak, Louis Meyer, and Adele Nicholas represented Guzman.

Another great result!!!  

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The AP is reporting:

A man who spent 23 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit sued St. Louis County and the officers who arrested him, saying investigators ignored inconsistencies in the victim's description. Johnny Briscoe, now 54, was freed in 2006 after DNA evidence exonerated him. He filed suit earlier this month in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. The suit claims his constitutional rights were violated and seeks unspecified damages.

The crime occurred in October 1982, in the suburb of Maryland Heights. A man burglarized a woman's apartment and raped her when she awoke. He talked to her a while and gave his name as John Briscoe. The woman later picked Briscoe's picture out of a lineup.

But the lawsuit pointed to several inconsistencies. The victim described the attacker as dark-skinned, about 5-foot-8, with normal teeth and a mustache. Briscoe is a light-skinned black man and 6-2, and had a gold-capped front tooth and a goatee.Even so, Briscoe was convicted by an all-white jury. He said his defense attorney never met with him. When the case was reopened, DNA on a cigarette butt at the rape scene was found to belong to Larry Smith, an acquaintance of Briscoe's who is serving a life term for another sexual assault.

Under state law, Briscoe was eligible for up to $36,500 in compensation for each year he was wrongly incarcerated, or more than $800,000, but he would have had to agree not to sue. Newman said the compensation falls short and Briscoe is confident he can win in court.

As highlighted previously by the Center, police officers and City are generally an easy target for lawsuits.  Under the civil rights laws, anyone can file suit against them.  Here, it appears, Mr. Bricoe's defense lawyer played a big role in landing him in jail for all these years.  If his claim is true, that his defense lawyer never met with him, that would be gross malpractice.  Chances are his defense lawyer does not have the deep pockets the City has.  His defense lawyer will likely skirt any liability.

An interesting point is also raised by the fact that the DNA that exonerated Mr. Briscoe is linked to a friend of his, Larry Smith.  The Center has seen other case in which the DNA, although failing to link to the individual in custody, still does not exonerate the person.  For example, many crimes are committed by multiple individuals or individuals participate in the crime at various points.  Here, we know, Mr. Briscoe most probably was not smoking a cigarette.

As to the compensation Mr. Briscoe rejected, similar financial compensation offers exist in many states.  It St. Louis, it appears, if Briscoe rejects the offer, he will need to role the dice in a lawsuit.  Here is a breakdown of compensation options per state.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link