Lawyer: Jury prejudiced in brutality case

PORTLAND – The city of Portland is likely to demand a new trial in the police brutality case it lost last week.

A U.S. District Court jury last week found that Officer Chuck Libby used excessive force in making an arrest last summer and ordered him to pay $53,100 in damages to Brent Cummings.

The same eight-person jury found Officer James Keddy not responsible.

Matthew Dunlap, a lawyer for the city, said that the jury may have been prejudiced when it ruled in favor of Cummings.

A decision by U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby allowed witnesses to describe police officers other than Libby and Keddy who allegedly used overly aggressive tactics on people other than Cummings in the minutes before Cumming’s own arrest.

Dunlap said that those witnesses may have prejudiced the jury against his officers.

“There was evidence involving other officers and other people, which made it hard to focus the jury’s attention on Cummings and my two guys,” Dunlap said.

Michael Waxman, Cummings’ lawyer, said the fact that jurors came to different verdicts for Libby and Keddy proved they could make an independent judgment about the officers’ actions.

“Its a face slap to the jury,” Waxman said. “I can’t believe the city is taking this step.”

Cummings testified that he was walking through the Old Port in the early morning hours of July 30, 2000, when he saw what he described as police attacking a group of young people without provocation. Cummings said he was attacked after he approached the scene and was told by police to leave.

Cummings was arrested for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse, but the charges later were dropped.