A FEDERAL COURT JURY ruled against Multnomah County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Hathaway this week, finding him liable for excessive force and battery related to an altercation with an inmate in the booking area of the county jail. The incident, captured on jail video in September 2006, showed Hathaway striking inmate Michael Evans repeatedly with closed fists as he brought Evans to the ground [“Summary Injustice,” News, July 19, 2007]—including punching Evans in the head.
“Our decision basically came down to one thing that we could all agree on,” an unnamed juror told the Mercury after the delivery of the verdict on Tuesday, December 15. “We all agreed that a blow to the head was excessive force.”
Nevertheless, the jury only awarded damages of $500 to Evans—$250 for the excessive force claim under federal law and $250 for the battery claim under Oregon law.
The jury also found in favor of three other officers involved in a melee after Evans was brought to the ground—exonerating Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Griffith, Sergeant Cathline Gorton, and Portland Police Bureau Officer Ryan Albertson for their role in bringing Evans under control. The three were variously accused of excessive force, assault, and battery.
Hathaway was also exonerated on claims of malicious prosecution—Evans was charged with assaulting a public safety officer following the altercation, but the charges were dropped after Hathaway repeatedly failed to show up in court.
The jury’s financial award was considerably lower than the plaintiff had been seeking: Evans wanted punitive damages of $60,000 against Deputy Griffith, $120,000 against Deputy Hathaway, and $60,000 against Officer Albertson. During the trial, City Attorney David Landrum repeatedly referred jurors to the fact that Evans had written to a friend about the case, asking the question, “Who wants to be a millionaire?”
Evans had also refused a larger offer of settlement in the case from Multnomah County, prior to the trial. Evans, who is serving time for two felony convictions dating back to last summer, was led out of the court in leg shackles after the verdict.
Evans looked very different in court than he did in the jail video showing his beating. Dressed in a suit and tie, and having grown out his hair, he also seemed to have lost some of his bulk from his appearance in a black muscle shirt in the jail booking area. He asked for a tissue before taking the stand, saying he “still gets very emotional” when he thinks about the incident. The jury was instructed to weigh Evans’ felony convictions when considering the value of his testimony.
Two jurors told the Mercury afterward that their verdict was not swayed by the high damages sought by Evans in the case. “We separated that out,” said one juror who preferred not to be named.
An expert’s report filed with the court prior to the trial made troubling allegations about jail deputies routinely punching inmates in the head as a control technique [“Punched in the Head,” News, Nov 19]. Ultimately, however, Judge Anna Brown precluded its admission as evidence in the case.
Arguments in the case focused on whether Evans had been resisting the sheriff’s deputies by refusing to have his fingerprints taken on a property receipt: Evans told the court he didn’t want to fingerprint the receipt because he didn’t know where his guns were—they’d been seized during his arrest. He had testified in earlier depositions to being “Gandhi-like” in his behavior in the booking area.
Meanwhile the county argued that Evans had jerked his arm back “like a hand from a hot stove,” refusing to have his prints taken, and he begun actively resisting from then on. As a result, Deputy Hathaway and the other officers had to quickly control a potentially dangerous inmate.
In his closing arguments, County Attorney Stephen Madkour told jurors that sheriff’s deputies’ jobs are “dangerous, demanding, and underappreciated,” but that they do their job “with pride and distinction.“
“Now we’re hearing that they’re also liars,” Madkour continued. “He comes into our jail in his black muscle shirt with his barbell nipple rings telling us how it’s going to be.”
In his closing arguments, Evans’ attorney, Benjamin Haile, urged the jurors to side with the “95 percent of law enforcement officers who do serve justly, and send a message to them that revenge beatings and dishonesty do not have to be a part of this.”
Haile also focused on inconsistencies between the video and Deputy Hathaway’s report about the incident, in which Hathaway claimed to have warned Evans to “stop resisting” before each strike with his fist—such warnings are not evident in the video.
“We’re pleased with the result,” said Assistant County Attorney Carlos Calandriello, after court had adjourned.
Evans’ attorney, Haile, declined comment on the verdict, as did Deputy Hathaway.
“So do I have to pay the $250?” asked Hathaway, who looms large at 6’7″ and weighing at least 250 pounds, after the verdict.
“No, we can afford it,” County Attorney Madkour responded.
“My point is, for all this, and all that crap, I’ll gladly pay $250,” Hathaway told him. “I’m out of here. I’m gonna go home and have a drink.”
“…send a message to them that revenge beatings and dishonesty do not have to be a part of this.”
Excessive use of forces doesn’t have to be part of the booking procedure, but it sure is damn fun, and quite the bargain it would appear.
It’s just too damned bad I wasn’t on that jury. I would’ve given Evans faaar more than a measly $500! Not so much b/c he’s such a great guy [which he probably isn’t], but anything, ANYTHING i could’ve done to break that cowardly pig Richard Hathaway!
Hathaway didn’t have to pay anything we the tax payers in Multnomah County payed Hathaway to be in court. He profited off of beating up this guy.
No, you’re right Dan. Typically, these pigs don’t have to pay a damned cent for this! They can skip court at will & lie their asses off on the stand, & not pay ANY conpansation on the rare occasion wrong-doing was found on their part. You all heard it from this pig Hathaway himself – he ewent home to have a drink… AFTER he was found guily of beating a man in custody!
Once again a prime example of whats wrong with the U.S. justice system. We pay the system to waste time. With cases like this is, $500 justice? How much money do you think it cost to come to the conclusion that Hathaway was guilty? How do you think it’ll effect his career? Does anyone honestly think that this case will have any effect on the future?
Nope, Chalk this one up as a loss.
When the fight begins within himself, a man’s worth something.I read your profile today and it was so good to me.i feel you are the only one missing in my entire life so i decided to stop on and let you know that i am interested to be a friend first.
One thing I want to add here is that the jury was instructed to take into consideration the fact that the Mult County Detention Center is an open booking area. And the folks who have been arrested, after being searched for drugs and weapons of course, are waltzing around without restraints. There is an open seating area with a television and phone; the inmates are kept in a waiting room that looks more like a doctor’s office than jail. SO, with that being said, any potentially upcooperative inmate must be dealt with in a swift and efficient manner as to avoid possible riots, etc. The video was ~ 30 seconds long. And the actions of the Officers was made based on conclusions they had drawn in a matter of split seconds. It may have seemes excessiver after the fact, but we must remember that it is their JOB to protect themselves and other people from dangerous situations. And I think that is what they were trying to do here.