11th Circuit OKs False Arrest Retrial Held After $472K Award Tossed Out
The plaintiff spent 16 days in jail on child molestation charges that were dropped and won $472K at trial, but the judge dumped the award and ordered a new, damages-only trial in which jurors awarded nothing.
January 18, 2018 at 08:34 PM
5 minute read
A man awarded $472,000 by a jury for his wrongful arrest, only to see the verdict tossed and a new jury award nothing, came up dry again after a federal appeals panel upheld a lower court order granting the second trial.
The ruling lets stand a verdict absolving an Atlanta police officer of damages for the 16 days plaintiff Dan Benton spent in jail after being arrested on child molestation charges that were later dropped.
The appellate opinion, said Judge William Duffey Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, properly ruled jurors in the first trial might have been “confused” by evidence he allowed in and by jury instructions seeking to rectify that confusion.
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