Jury Awards $6 Million to Widow of Wrongfully Accused Man
SAN DIEGO (CN) – A jury of two women and five men awarded the widow of a crime lab worker implicated in a cold-case murder investigation $6 million Friday for injuries caused to the family by a San Diego Police Department detective’s investigation.
Attorney Eugene Iredale leaned over and kissed his client Rebecca Brown on the cheek after they learned the verdict reached by the jury in U.S. District Dana Sabraw’s courtroom after less than a day of deliberations.
Iredale had suggested the jurors award Brown $12 million during his closing arguments Thursday.
Brown sued SDPD detectives Michael Lambert and Maura Mekenas-Parga for their involvement in the 2014 execution of a search warrant on the Brown’s family home after Kevin Brown’s semen turned up on retested evidence from the cold-case murder and sexual assault of 14-year-old Claire Hough.
Lambert said enough of Brown’s sperm cells were found that it had to be investigated. It showed up along with 13 blood spots on Hough’s jeans and underwear – along with a public hair and “touch DNA” – from convicted rapist Ronald Tatro.
https://www.courthousenews.com/jury-awards-6-million-to-widow-of-wrongfully-accused-man/