City settles suits over drug cases
Detectives used forged warrants
By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Louisville metro government has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle two lawsuits involving two former narcotics detectives involved in Jefferson County's largest police scandal in decades.
"We believe they are reasonable settlements," said Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, which defended the metro government.
The civil lawsuits stem from more than 50 criminal cases involving former detectives Mark Watson and Christie Richardson in which charges were dismissed or convictions erased because of the two detectives' conduct.
Watson is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty in January 2003 to 299 felonies and three misdemeanors for using photocopied judges' signatures on search warrants and using them to enter people's homes.
Richardson is on probation after a jury convicted her in February 2003 on 20 felony charges, including 19 counts of tampering with public records and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument. The jury also found her guilty of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.
In the first settlement, the government agreed to pay $10,000 to George Spencer III, who claimed that Watson and Richardson entered his apartment unlawfully with an invalid search warrant that led to his arrest in 1999 on drug charges.
Spencer entered an Alford plea to the charges, acknowledging the evidence was sufficient to produce a guilty verdict but maintaining his innocence. His conviction was set aside in August 2002.
The settlement provides Spencer with some closure, said Brian Good, Spencer's attorney.
"Under the facts and circumstances we're satisfied with the outcome," Good said. "… In his eyes the damage has been done. It's hard to undo prison time."
In the second settled lawsuit, the county agreed to pay $10,000 each to Walter Elliott and his mother, Connie Elliott, Patteson said.
Attempts to contact the Elliotts and their attorney were unsuccessful this week.
Walter Elliott and his mother have said that Watson and Richardson forged a judge's signature and fabricated a search warrant to enter their West Muhammad Ali Boulevard apartment in January 2000.
Walter Elliott eventually pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
The conviction was set aside in March 2002. Charges against his mother were dismissed, the suit said.
Three other lawsuits against the metro government alleging civil-rights violations by Watson and Richardson are still pending, including one that seeks class-action status.
The settlements do not affect the pending cases, Patteson said. "We take each case on its own merits."
A federal judge dismissed a sixth lawsuit against the metro government earlier this year after granting a motion for summary judgment.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III ruled that Roney Grigsby waited too long to sue.
Grigsby said that Watson and Richardson used a forged warrant in October 1999 to enter a Heywood Avenue residence and confiscate $285 and three guns belonging to him. Criminal charges were dismissed, but Grigsby said he never got the property back.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051126/NEWS01/511260398/1008/NEWS01
Detectives used forged warrants
By Gregory A. Hall
ghall@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Louisville metro government has agreed to pay $30,000 to settle two lawsuits involving two former narcotics detectives involved in Jefferson County's largest police scandal in decades.
"We believe they are reasonable settlements," said Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Attorney's Office, which defended the metro government.
The civil lawsuits stem from more than 50 criminal cases involving former detectives Mark Watson and Christie Richardson in which charges were dismissed or convictions erased because of the two detectives' conduct.
Watson is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty in January 2003 to 299 felonies and three misdemeanors for using photocopied judges' signatures on search warrants and using them to enter people's homes.
Richardson is on probation after a jury convicted her in February 2003 on 20 felony charges, including 19 counts of tampering with public records and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument. The jury also found her guilty of official misconduct, a misdemeanor.
In the first settlement, the government agreed to pay $10,000 to George Spencer III, who claimed that Watson and Richardson entered his apartment unlawfully with an invalid search warrant that led to his arrest in 1999 on drug charges.
Spencer entered an Alford plea to the charges, acknowledging the evidence was sufficient to produce a guilty verdict but maintaining his innocence. His conviction was set aside in August 2002.
The settlement provides Spencer with some closure, said Brian Good, Spencer's attorney.
"Under the facts and circumstances we're satisfied with the outcome," Good said. "… In his eyes the damage has been done. It's hard to undo prison time."
In the second settled lawsuit, the county agreed to pay $10,000 each to Walter Elliott and his mother, Connie Elliott, Patteson said.
Attempts to contact the Elliotts and their attorney were unsuccessful this week.
Walter Elliott and his mother have said that Watson and Richardson forged a judge's signature and fabricated a search warrant to enter their West Muhammad Ali Boulevard apartment in January 2000.
Walter Elliott eventually pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
The conviction was set aside in March 2002. Charges against his mother were dismissed, the suit said.
Three other lawsuits against the metro government alleging civil-rights violations by Watson and Richardson are still pending, including one that seeks class-action status.
The settlements do not affect the pending cases, Patteson said. "We take each case on its own merits."
A federal judge dismissed a sixth lawsuit against the metro government earlier this year after granting a motion for summary judgment.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III ruled that Roney Grigsby waited too long to sue.
Grigsby said that Watson and Richardson used a forged warrant in October 1999 to enter a Heywood Avenue residence and confiscate $285 and three guns belonging to him. Criminal charges were dismissed, but Grigsby said he never got the property back.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051126/NEWS01/511260398/1008/NEWS01