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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Ind. Decisions - "Wrongful conviction case hits new snag"

This Jan. 16, 2008 ILB entry quotes from an Indianapolis Star story that mentions, at the end of a long story about another individual:

Buntin said he hasn’t decided whether to file a federal lawsuit seeking compensation for a wrongful conviction. Larry Mayes, who spent 19 years in prison for a rape in Hammond before DNA evidence exonerated him, was awarded $9 million by a jury in 2006; that verdict is on appeal.
In this March 11 entry Sara Brown reported in the NWI Times that:
HAMMOND | Five months after the city of Hammond asked a federal appeals court to overturn a $9 million judgment in the wrongful conviction lawsuit won by Larry Mayes, attorneys are expected to file a motion today asking the court not to rule in the case.
Today Joe Carlson reports in the Times under the headline "Wrongful conviction case hits new snag" in a story that begins:
HAMMOND | City officials want to pay $4.5 million to settle with a man they wrongfully imprisoned for 20 years, and the man wants to accept.

But federal judges are standing in the way, at least for now.

In 2006, Larry Mayes won a lawsuit he filed against the Hammond Police Department, which manipulated evidence to send Mayes to prison for a 1980 rape that modern DNA evidence now proves he did not commit.

Police officials admitted at trial that a detective on the case had used hypnotism on the victim of the attack to try to produce memories of her assailant, despite department policy against the unorthodox technique.

A federal jury awarded Mayes $9 million.

While the verdict was out on appeal, city officials and Mayes' attorneys agreed to settle the case out of court for $4.5 million -- but only if city officials floated a bond for the settlement and if federal judges agreed to invalidate the $9 million judgment.

The Hammond City Council approved the bond in April, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the request to throw out the jury award.

Many appeals courts across the country will automatically vacate an earlier court decision in order to promote settlements, but the Chicago-based 7th Circuit has refused, citing a concern about wasting judicial resources and other issues, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry wrote.

"The parties do not have a settlement without the entry of an order vacating the jury verdict," Cherry wrote.

Here is a copy of the 9-page July 29th opinion and order from the ND Ind., Hammond Div. that begins:
This matter is before the Court on an order from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [DE 546], issued on July 15, 2008, and filed with this Court on July 17, 2008. The Court of Appeals has remanded this case for the limited purpose of allowing the Court to inform the Court of Appeals whether it is inclined to vacate the judgment and jury verdict.
It ends with:
Based on the foregoing, the Court now ORDERS the parties to FILE a joint brief, on or before August 8, 2008, setting forth the law and facts, as requested in Part B of the Analysis, necessary for the Court to inform the Court of Appeals whether the Court is inclined to vacate the jury verdict and judgment in this case as a condition of settlement. Upon receipt of the brief, the Court will expeditiously issue an order in response to the Court of Appeals’ inquiry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 30, 2008 06:53 AM
Posted to Ind Fed D.Ct. Decisions