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January 27, 2009
Ben Masel: "hung jury" in civil pepperspray trial
Posted by Gary Storck
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
7:31 pm:
From Ben's Facebook status: "Hung jury. unanimous on 1 officer, but the verdict's bundled. We don't know if the unanimity was to acquit, or convict."
8:00 pm: Further details from Ben: The hung jury resulted in a mistrial. The case can be re-litigated, or the officers can offer to settle.
From Paul Soglin's Waxing America blog, written by Barry Orton:
Ugly Details Emerge at Masel Civil Rights Trial
(snip)Previously unreported details that came out at the trial included the fact that officer Michael Mansavage first missed Masel and instead peppersprayed his partner John McCaughtry, who was holding Masel by the arm at the time. Apparently, once McCaughtry and Mansavage had wrestled Masel into a face-down position on the ground, with McCaughtry's knee on Masel's back, Mansavage then peppersprayed Masel in the face. Mansavage also threatened to use a Taser on Masel for not putting his arm behind his back to be handcuffed fast enough, when the arm was, in fact, trapped under Masel's body.
The officers' descriptions of their actions made them look totally unprofessional, and strengthened Masel's claims. The multiple times both officers had to be taken through deposition statements that disagreed with their trial testimony didn't help either.
(snip)
Posted by Gary at January 27, 2009 07:11 PM
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