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| Ex-inmates sue jail, officers over '02 incident |
| By Nashua Telegraph |
| Published: 03/21/2005 |
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A group of former inmates has filed a new round of lawsuits against the Hillsborough County (N.H.) jail and several officers, all stemming from the same incident nearly three years ago. The lawsuits charge that an officer at the jail falsely accused nine inmates of trying to take him hostage, and that the inmates were beaten and harshly punished because of the accusations. The suits follow in the wake of a suit brought by former inmate Jason Surprenant, who last year was awarded $20,000 in damages after a trial in U.S. District Court. The same lawyer who handled Surprenant's case, Michael Sheehan of Concord, has since filed suits on behalf of six other inmates, stemming from the same incident, and raising similar allegations. "Both lawyers will have the advantage of having done it once (already)," should the suits go to trial, Sheehan said last Tuesday. The county appealed the verdict in Surprenant's trial, and that case remains pending in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The lawyer representing the jail, John Curran of Bedford, could not be reached last Tuesday afternoon. Sheehan filed cases on behalf of two former jail inmates, Dante Baker of Augusta, Ga., and Antonio King of California, last year, and filed a single suit last week on behalf of four more inmates, all of whom testified during Surprenant's trial. The four are Nicholas Champagne and David Coulombe, currently inmates in the state prison in Concord, as well as Palacio Paladin of Lowell, Mass., and Richard West of Manchester. The suits target 13 current and former officers at the jail, and Superintendent James O'Mara. The suits are expected to be consolidated and scheduled for trial all together in December, court records show. Sheehan said he will argue that most of the issues decided in Surprenant's case should be applied to the new suits, leaving only the question of how badly the inmates were beaten and what sort of compensation they should receive. Sheehan added, however, that he expects the county will seek to argue many of the issues anew. |
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