Second juror in New Hampshire youth center abuse trial explains verdict, says state misinterpreted

CONCORD, N.H. -- One of the jurors who awarded a New Hampshire antheral $38 cardinal successful a landmark suit implicit maltreatment astatine the state’s younker detention halfway says the authorities is misinterpreting the verdict by capping the outgo astatine $475,000.

Jurors connected Friday awarded $18 cardinal successful compensatory damages and $20 cardinal successful enhanced damages to David Meehan, who alleged that the state’s negligence allowed him to beryllium repeatedly raped, beaten and held successful solitary confinement arsenic a teen astatine the Youth Development Center successful Manchester. But the lawyer general’s bureau said the grant would beryllium reduced nether a authorities instrumentality that allows claimants against the authorities to retrieve a maximum of $475,000 per “incident.”

Jurors were not told of the cap. When asked connected a verdict signifier however galore incidents they recovered Meehan had proven, they wrote “one.” The completed signifier does not bespeak whether they recovered a azygous lawsuit of maltreatment oregon grouped each of Meehan’s allegations together, but 1 of the jurors emailed Meehan’s lawyer connected Sunday to explicate their reasoning.

“We wrote connected our verdict signifier that determination was 1 incident/injury, being analyzable PTSD, from the effect of 100+ injuries (Sexual, Physical, affectional abuse),” the juror wrote, according to tribunal documents filed Sunday by Meehan's attorneys. “We were ne'er informed of a headdress being placed per incidental of maltreatment and that is incorrect however the question was worded to us.

“The authorities is making their ain mentation of the ruling that we made, and that is not close for them to presume our position,” the juror wrote. “David should beryllium entitled to what we awarded him, which was $38 million.”

Meehan’s attorneys person asked the justice successful the lawsuit to clasp an exigency proceeding connected the substance Monday and person brought successful erstwhile authorities Supreme Court Justice Gary Hicks to assistance marque their case.

Attorneys for the authorities had not responded to the petition for a proceeding by Sunday evening, and Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the lawyer general’s office, declined to remark different than pointing to Friday’s connection astir the cap.

In their motion, Meehan’s attorneys said the juror's email connection and others sent by the assemblage foreperson corroborate that jurors misunderstood the verdict form. The attorneys said that the uncovering of lone 1 proven “incident” is “conclusively against the value of the evidence” and logically inconsistent with the damages awarded.

In specified circumstances, the tribunal “not lone has wide discretion, but is successful information duty-bound to instrumentality corrective action,” they wrote. The attorneys cited past cases successful which judges questioned juries and past directed them to reconsider their verdicts.

The assemblage foreperson emailed 1 of Meehan’s attorneys Rus Rilee, wrong hours of the verdict, saying, “I’m perfectly devastated.” The adjacent morning, the foreperson sent a connection to lawyer David Vicinanzo saying, “My guilt kept maine awake for the amended portion of the night.”

“I was virtually sickened and brought to tears successful fearfulness of the mistake we made. I inactive am,” the juror wrote.

Meehan, 42, went to constabulary successful 2017 and sued the authorities 3 years later. Since then, 11 erstwhile authorities workers person been arrested and much than 1,100 different erstwhile residents of the Youth Development Center person filed lawsuits alleging physical, intersexual and affectional maltreatment spanning six decades.

Meehan’s suit was the archetypal to spell to trial. Over the people of 4 weeks, Meehan’s attorneys contended that the authorities encouraged a civilization of maltreatment marked by pervasive brutality,corruption and a codification of silence.

The authorities argued it was not liable for the behaviour of rogue employees and that Meehan waited excessively agelong to sue. In cross-examining Meehan, attorneys for the authorities portrayed him arsenic a convulsive kid who caused occupation astatine the younker halfway — and arsenic a delusional big who exaggerates oregon lies to get money.

The lawsuit highlighted an antithetic dynamic successful which the lawyer general’s bureau is some defending the authorities against the civilian lawsuits and prosecuting suspected perpetrators successful the transgression cases.