Current:Home > StocksSecond juror in New Hampshire youth center abuse trial explains verdict, says state misinterpreted-LoTradeCoin
Second juror in New Hampshire youth center abuse trial explains verdict, says state misinterpreted
View Date:2024-12-23 23:45:29
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — One of the jurors who awarded a New Hampshire man $38 million in a landmark lawsuit over abuse at the state’s youth detention center says the state is misinterpreting the verdict by capping the payment at $475,000.
Jurors on Friday awarded $18 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in enhanced damages to David Meehan, who alleged that the state’s negligence allowed him to be repeatedly raped, beaten and held in solitary confinement as a teenager at the Youth Development Center in Manchester. But the attorney general’s office said the award would be reduced under a state law that allows claimants against the state to recover a maximum of $475,000 per “incident.”
Jurors were not told of the cap. When asked on a verdict form how many incidents they found Meehan had proven, they wrote “one.” The completed form does not indicate whether they found a single instance of abuse or grouped all of Meehan’s allegations together, but one of the jurors emailed Meehan’s attorney on Sunday to explain their reasoning.
“We wrote on our verdict form that there was 1 incident/injury, being complex PTSD, from the result of 100+ injuries (Sexual, Physical, emotional abuse),” the juror wrote, according to court documents filed Sunday by Meehan’s attorneys. “We were never informed of a cap being placed per incident of abuse and that is wrong how the question was worded to us.
“The state is making their own interpretation of the ruling that we made, and that is not right for them to assume our position,” the juror wrote. “David should be entitled to what we awarded him, which was $38 million.”
Meehan’s attorneys have asked the judge in the case to hold an emergency hearing on the matter Monday and have brought in former state Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks to help make their case.
Attorneys for the state had not responded to the request for a hearing by Sunday evening, and Michael Garrity, spokesman for the attorney general’s office, declined to comment other than pointing to Friday’s statement about the cap.
In their motion, Meehan’s attorneys said the juror’s email statement and others sent by the jury foreperson confirm that jurors misunderstood the verdict form. The attorneys said that the finding of only one proven “incident” is “conclusively against the weight of the evidence” and logically inconsistent with the damages awarded.
In such circumstances, the court “not only has broad discretion, but is in fact duty-bound to take corrective action,” they wrote. The attorneys cited past cases in which judges questioned juries and then directed them to reconsider their verdicts.
The jury foreperson emailed one of Meehan’s attorneys Rus Rilee, within hours of the verdict, saying, “I’m absolutely devastated.” The next morning, the foreperson sent a message to attorney David Vicinanzo saying, “My guilt kept me awake for the better part of the night.”
“I was literally sickened and brought to tears in fear of the mistake we made. I still am,” the juror wrote.
Meehan, 42, went to police in 2017 and sued the state three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers have been arrested and more than 1,100 other former residents of the Youth Development Center have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse spanning six decades.
Meehan’s lawsuit was the first to go to trial. Over the course of four weeks, Meehan’s attorneys contended that the state encouraged a culture of abuse marked by pervasive brutality,corruption and a code of silence.
The state argued it was not liable for the conduct of rogue employees and that Meehan waited too long to sue. In cross-examining Meehan, attorneys for the state portrayed him as a violent child who caused trouble at the youth center — and as a delusional adult who exaggerates or lies to get money.
The case highlighted an unusual dynamic in which the attorney general’s office is both defending the state against the civil lawsuits and prosecuting suspected perpetrators in the criminal cases.
veryGood! (752)
Related
- All Social Security retirees should do this by Nov. 20
- San Diego Zoo will receive two new giant pandas from China after nearly all pandas in U.S. were returned
- Billie Eilish announces 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' tour: How to get tickets
- 'I like to move it': Zebras escape trailer, gallop on Washington highway: Watch video
- My Chemical Romance will perform 'The Black Parade' in full during 2025 tour: See dates
- Big-city dwellers are better off renting than buying a home everywhere, analysis says
- Nicole Kidman Shares Insight Into Milestone Night Out With Keith Urban and Their Daughters
- Britney and Jamie Spears settlement avoids long, potentially ugly and revealing trial
- 2 credit unions in Mississippi and Louisiana are planning to merge
- How countries are using innovative technology to preserve ocean life
Ranking
- Congress heard more testimony about UFOs: Here are the biggest revelations
- Psst! Everything at J.Crew Factory Is 50% off Right Now, Including Hundreds of Cute Springtime Finds
- Al Capone's sweetheart gun is up for auction again — and it could sell for over $2 million
- HBCU Xavier of New Orleans moves closer to establishing a medical school
- AI could help scale humanitarian responses. But it could also have big downsides
- Skipping updates on your phone? Which apps are listening? Check out these tech tips
- Don't use TikTok? Here's what to know about the popular app and its potential ban in US
- These cities raised taxes — for child care. Parents say the free day care ‘changed my life’
Recommendation
-
Megan Fox Is Pregnant, Expecting Baby With Machine Gun Kelly
-
Billy Joel's ex-wife Christie Brinkley dances as he performs 'Uptown Girl': Watch
-
Person of interest sought in shooting on Navajo Nation in northern Arizona
-
Shooting after prom kills 1 and injures 3 in south Georgia town
-
Tennessee fugitive accused of killing a man and lying about a bear chase is caught in South Carolina
-
Horoscopes Today, April 28, 2024
-
'I like to move it': Zebras escape trailer, gallop on Washington highway: Watch video
-
Psst! Everything at J.Crew Factory Is 50% off Right Now, Including Hundreds of Cute Springtime Finds