Henry v MOA: ADN Reports Jury Sides With Henry For $2.3 Million

There were a lot of details in this case and I couldn't imagine that the jury would decide this soon.  They only got the case yesterday afternoon.    The judge explained that in Federal Court they can have 6-11 jurors.  This trial began with 9.  The judge didn't think they'd decided this quickly either because he was arguing for releasing one of the jurors who had plane tickets for Tuesday.  I didn't see her in the jury box Thursday.

I want in to this trial without knowing which side was right.  If I had a bias at all, it was against the MOA because of what I saw last year in the Graham v MOA case that I was involved with.  It never should've gone to trial.  The MOA was clearly wrong, from my perspective, and should have resolved this long before it ever went to court.

But this case was entangled in lots of bizarre complications.  The plaintiff, Tony Henry, was a key witness against two minority police officers in a case that ended in a hung jury and had to be tried a second time.  When the first trial was over, the MOA then hired the investigator, Rick Brown, to, ostensibly, look into why the APD hadn't responded to the sex and drug scandals at the National Guard. Henry was a big part of that issue, being blamed for tipping off the Guard about the an informant who worked for the Guard.

So Henry know exactly how the police did this sort of thing.  He was in on the first case, going after two minority officers.  (They won the second trial.)  The jury didn't know anything about the prior case and Henry's role in it.  The case name popped up twice, but the plaintiffs seemed to have successfully kept it out.  Or did the defense?

And that's what's so crazy about this case.  Both sides had problems.  I think it could have gone either way, depending on the jury.  So I'm a little disappointed that this jury came to such a quick decision.  I'm not saying they were wrong, but they couldn't have picked through the issues very carefully in such a short time.  I'm guessing most of them must have decided Henry was treated unfairly (not an unreasonable conclusion).  But nothing was clear cut.

Here's a link to the ADN story.  [11/10/18  1:30pm Sorry, had a bad link, fixed now.]