The city of Tulsa has had another victory in litigation spawned by the investigation of corruption in the Tulsa Police Department.
U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton found this week that the city and former Tulsa Police Officer Jeff Henderson were entitled to summary judgment on a malicious prosecution claim made by Dustin Robert Eastom, which ended Eastom's lawsuit and led to the cancellation of a jury trial that had been scheduled to begin Sept. 19.
Eastom, 33, had been found guilty of possession of methamphetamine with an intent to distribute and possession of a firearm on Nov. 16, 2007, and was sentenced to seven years in prison on Feb. 13, 2008, records show.
He was released from prison Sept. 7, 2010, when his conviction was set aside as a result of the police corruption probe, and he filed the lawsuit in September 2011.
Eastom alleged in his lawsuit that Henderson and ex-U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agent Brandon McFadden improperly searched his home and stole thousands of dollars from him in February 2007.
Heaton had issued a ruling Aug. 16 granting summary judgment motions filed by the city and Henderson on Eastom's claims of illegal search, theft, false imprisonment and false arrest.
However, he asked for further briefing on Eastom's malicious prosecution argument, as well as on a state-law negligence claim that Eastom had made against the city.
On Monday, Heaton wrote that Henderson and McFadden "have already been 'punished' not only by the vacation of plaintiff's convictions, but by their own incarceration for similar conduct affecting other individuals."
Heaton wrote that finding for Eastom "would be to allow a jury to award damages to a person for malicious prosecution for a crime which he did, in fact, commit, but for which he should not have been tried because the critical evidence was obtained illegally."
At least 17 lawsuits related to the Tulsa police corruption scandal have been filed in federal or state court.
The city has received mostly favorable pretrial rulings, although it agreed to settle a case with Demario T. Harris for $50,000.
Harris, 33, had been convicted in 2005 of drug and gun crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison but was ordered freed in October 2010 after the prosecution conceded that his "conviction was obtained in violation of the defendant's due process rights."
City of Tulsa Litigation Division Manager Gerald Bender said last month that the choice to settle the Harris case was a "business decision" that was made by evaluating the lawsuit and what it would cost to defend it.
David Harper 918-581-8359
david.harper@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Police corruption suit against city dismissed
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