New Haven will seek to overturn a jury's decision to award $38 million to a man who sued the city for wrongful conviction, a payout Mayor Justin Elicker this week described as "beyond the pale."
A federal jury on Friday found the city liable for police misconduct in the case of Stefon Morant, who served 21 years in prison for a double homicide before receiving a full pardon after evidence of wrongdoing by New Haven police officers came to light.
The jury found police had a practice of hiding evidence that could damage their cases during the time Morant was arrested and tried in the early 1990s — rejecting the city's claim that misconduct was not widespread.
Elicker, a Democrat who became mayor in 2020, said the city is disappointed and will appeal the jury's decision.
"The actions of several officers at the time shouldn't mean that the residents of New Haven today should pay such an incredible amount of money," he said.
Morant and another man, Scott Lewis, were convicted of killing Ricardo Turner, a former New Haven alderman, and his partner, Lamont Fields. The two were fatally shot inside a second-floor apartment on Howard Avenue in New Haven in October 1990.
No physical or forensic evidence ever connected Morant or Lewis to the crime. Morant alleges the investigation initially pointed to a major cocaine dealer in the area and his brother as the perpetrators.
However, Morant and Lewis became suspects following a January 1991 police interview of a 16-year-old witness. Morant alleges Vincent Raucci, a former New Haven detective who was assigned to the case, coerced the teenager and another witness to implicate him and Lewis in the shootings.
Jurors weighing Morant's lawsuit against the city heard testimony from the officers in a trial that lasted nearly a month. A verdict slip shows they found Raucci liable on counts of malicious prosecution and failure to disclose exculpatory evidence. Jurors held Raucci and another officer, Vaughn Maher, liable on additional counts of fabricating evidence, coercing statements and conspiracy to violate constitutional rights.
Morant was represented in the case by the firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger. His lawyer, Nick Brustin, said he's confident the decision will be upheld on appeal.
"This is as rock solid a case as we've ever had," he said.
Lewis, the co-defendant in Morant's case, previously settled a lawsuit against the city of New Haven for $9.5 million after winning his release from prison.
The city held settlement talks with Morant, but failed to come to terms. In comments published in the New Haven Register, Elicker suggested Morant's legal team had presented excessive demands for compensation, forcing the city to go to trial. His remarks prompted a response from Judge Sarala V. Nagala, who ordered the mayor on May 13 not to talk publicly about the lawsuit until after the jury verdict.
In an interview this week, Elicker expressed sympathy for the pain and suffering Morant and his family endured, but placed blame squarely on the police officers involved.
Elicker said he is working to address financial missteps by past administrations, including underfunding of pensions and borrowing that saddled the city with debt.
"To add this on top of it is just very difficult for our residents today to be kind of almost punished by the the decisions of the past," he said.
At the time of Morant's arrest, the city didn't carry insurance that would cover police misconduct, meaning it could be forced to pay the full damages awarded last week.
Elicker noted that Morant previously received $5.8 million from the state of Connecticut after filing a wrongful conviction claim.
"An additional $38 million to me seems just beyond the pale," Elicker said.
Brustin, Morant's lawyer, said the decision is in line with other wrongful conviction awards. He said Morant presented a mountain of evidence to demonstrate specific harm, including trauma and psychiatric issues that Morant suffers.
He said the jury's decision is a sign that New Haven must grapple with a legacy of police misconduct that tainted criminal justice.
"The position has been, 'We never did anything wrong. We're not doing anything wrong now,' which is offensive to the people of New Haven, offensive to the men who've been through this, and ... in my view suggests that the problems that existed then have not gone away," Brustin said.
