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Posted on 04/01/2006 8:56:58 AM PST by Know your rights
TALLAHASSEE — A black Delray Beach family trumpeted their faith in God and the U.S. legal system after a jury awarded them $2 million in damages Thursday upon deciding that five white North Florida sheriff's deputies had violated their civil rights.
"I am happy that I came and did what I had to do," 20-year-old Cynthia McCloud said. "It's been really hard to sit and listen to everything again. I got through it because my mom and my family were here supporting me."
McCloud was 15 when she and her family — her mother, Arnetta; her father, Freddy; and cousin Marcus Frazier — were pulled over by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies and detained for more than four hours.
In emotional testimony, she told jurors that officers made her disrobe from the waist down on the roadside while they used a flashlight to search for drugs.
The family's attorney, Guy Rubin of Martin County, asked jurors for at least $7 million to punish the sheriff's office. Following the verdict, which came after three days of deliberations and six days of testimony in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, he said it was "a wonderful day."
"This jury gave an award of damages that sent a message loud and clear to all sheriffs in this state and to all law enforcement that you cannot trample on the Fourth Amendment in the state of Florida," Rubin said. "And if you do, there is going to be a price to pay."
During their 24 hours of deliberation, the seven jurors, one black and six white, sent several questions to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle about a battery charge listed on the jury instructions. Rubin waived the charge Thursday, saying it was not crucial to the case, and an hour later the jurors signaled they had reached a verdict.
After Hinkle read their verdict, jurors were ushered from the courthouse through a back door and were unavailable for comment.
The defense — which included the sheriff's office and the five deputies — refused to comment.
"I can't say anything. I'm sorry," now-retired Undersheriff Michael Joyner said.
Asked whether they would appeal, defense attorney David Cornell said, "I don't have anything to say at this time."
According to testimony from the trial, the July 2001 traffic stop unfolded as follows:
The McClouds were pulled over because deputies suspected Freddy McCloud of selling cocaine.
The family let deputies search their car with dogs and asked to leave when nothing was found.
After the car search, deputy Gerald Knecht asked his supervisor, William Hayes, what to do. Hayes, head of the sheriff's office drug task force, is heard on a tape saying, "I ain't going to let my money walk."
Earlier that day, deputies said, they gave $450 to an informant to buy cocaine from Freddy McCloud. McCloud was later charged with selling drugs, but the case was dismissed when the informant refused to cooperate.
After Hayes' comments, the McClouds were put into police cars while Cynthia and her mother were strip-searched.
In addition to Joyner, Hayes and Knecht, the other defendants included deputies David Clark and George Stinson, who now works for the Leon County Sheriff's Office.
The two McCloud women and Frazier were the plaintiffs in the case. Freddy McCloud was not.
Cynthia was searched twice.
The second time, while she was standing on the side of the road after midnight, she was forced to pull her pants down while a female officer searched her with a flashlight.
"She was a very young girl at the time," Arnetta McCloud said after the verdict. "It's been very stressful."
Arnetta McCloud said the trial "was not all about the money."
"It was letting everybody know what happened to us on that dark road that night," she said. "We thank God first. There is justice in the United States."
The McClouds said that after the strip-searches, deputies forced them to return to a relative's home in Monticello where they had been celebrating Arnetta's birthday. The McClouds said they were moving the party to another family member's home in Tallahassee when they were pulled over.
During the search of the Monticello home, deputies used racial slurs and dragged family members from their beds, the McClouds said.
Deputies denied those claims in court, saying there were no strip-searches and that the family consented to a search of the Monticello home.
"It's over now, and we can try to move on to another chapter of our lives," Arnetta McCloud said. "It's one step at a time. Put God first, and everything else will fall into place."
Another glorious triumph for the War On Drugs.
Wish the taxpayers would say... "I ain't going to let my money walk."
No kidding. Awards like this should come out of the Jefferson County SD's annual budget and not the taxpayers' pockets. Let them auction off a few squad cars and let a few officers go if they have to. Maybe teach them to be a little less overzealous next time.
And I love the part about giving the informant money to buy drugs only to have him recant afterwards --the money (and I assume the cocaine) being long gone.
"...the money (and I assume the cocaine) being long gone."
You KNOW that!
I wonder if at any time during this incident any of the officers questioned that their actions were wrong. Sad....
I wonder if any of FR's WOD cheerleaders will question that these actions were wrong.
I hope not. the war on drugs is the biggest failure to date. Who started this stupid war on drugs nonsense. I want that person impeached immediately (obviously kidding on this part)!!!! But it was a stupid decision to make.
Didn;t the WOD start way back in the teens or twenties of the last century, as a way to stop pot-smoking Mexicans from coming into the country? Immigration and WOD tied into a Gordian knot?
Hmmmmm. Let me discuss this with six other people over the next three days and I'll give you my answer then.
What criminal action was taken against these North Florida sheriff's deputies?
Ummm ... OK.
What criminal action was taken against these North Florida sheriff's deputies?
None that I know of, more's the pity.
And to keep Negro jazz musicians from seducing white women.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
And the punishment for the Sheriff and his deputies will be?
But never with Harry, I'm guessing.
LOL!
Poor Harry just couldn't get any!
.
Lets revisit this innocent family in 5 years and see how they have used this windfall of cash. The cops should be punished, not the taxpayers.
Quite a few people come to grief from winning the lottery; but that by itself isn't much of an argument for ending the lottery.
The cops should be punished, not the taxpayers.
That I agree with ... take it out of the paychecks of these thugs and their commanding officers.
Allowing criminals who got lucky not to be convicted access to millions of dollars is no answer to criminal activity of public officials either.
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