While the criminal phase of two police trials ended Friday with the sentencing of four law enforcement officers, the city could pay millions in damages due to civil rights violations by the convicted officers.
At least eight lawsuits have been filed against police officers and the city as part of a police corruption probe involving stolen drugs and money, falsified search warrants and perjury by Tulsa police.
The lawsuits were filed by eight people who have been freed from prison or had their cases dismissed due to alleged police corruption.
Those named as plaintiffs in the lawsuits include Tulsa Police Officer Bill Yelton, former Tulsa police officers Jeff Henderson and Eric Hill, and former U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Brandon McFadden.
Henderson and McFadden were sentenced Tuesday as part of a police corruption probe that became known in November 2009. Hill, who was fired by the department, has admitted planting drugs on people but was not charged with a crime because he had prosecutorial immunity to testify against other officers.
One of the earliest lawsuits filed against the city involves allegations that Henderson and McFadden framed Larry Wayne Barnes Sr. and Larita Annette Barnes in 2007. The Barneses were convicted of selling drugs and sentenced to federal prison. However, they were freed in 2009, after an informant in the case said he worked with McFadden and Henderson to frame them, court records show.
Larita Barnes filed a lawsuit in federal court on Aug. 6, 2010, seeking millions for wrongful incarceration, said Mark Lyons, her attorney. She served 16 months in federal and state prison.
Lyons said: "Arvin McGee got about $1 million for every year he was wrongfully incarcerated. Let's just say we will be using that as a starting point for Larita."
Arvin McGee served 14 years in prison for a kidnapping and rape.
He sued the city after he was exonerated with DNA evidence in 2002. While a federal jury awarded him $14 million in 2006, a settlement was reached for the city to pay $12.5 million.
Larry Barnes and his wife, Linda, filed their initial lawsuit April 19, 2010, in Tulsa County District Court. The case was transferred to federal court.
Larry Barnes was freed from federal prison in July 2009 after serving 16 months in prison.
At Henderson's trial, McFadden and Ryan Logsdon, a drug informant, testified that the three framed the Barnesesbecause they were known drug dealers.
A jury acquitted Henderson on the charges.
Other lawsuits include: Dustin Robert Eastom, Bobby Wayne Haley Sr., Patrick Neil London, DeMarco Williams, Demario T. Harris and William Eli Kinnard Jr.
Eastom, London, Williams and Harris were not among those named in the indictment against Henderson or Yelton as having their civil rights violated.
Yelton has been acquitted on all charges against him.
Williams' attorney, Randy Lynn said: "It wouldn't bother me if none of the officers went to prison. I just didn't want DeMarco there because he didn't do it."
Copyright 2011 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
