Fayette County settles lawsuit with former prison guard
Fayette County has settled a lawsuit brought by a county prison guard who faced criminal charges for alleged misconduct on the job, but was acquitted of all wrongdoing. In an order handed down Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Hardiman indicated that attorneys for both sides had settled the case that Gerald Hall brought against the county and two prison officials. The details of the settlement could not be confirmed because the attorney for the county’s insurance company who handled the case, Marie Jones, did not return a call for comment.
When contacted earlier this week, Fayette County solicitor Joseph E. Ferens Jr. said he did not know the details of the settlement, instead directing all inquiries to Jones. Ferens said although he did not have a copy of the settlement, he believes it is covered under Pennsylvania’s Open Records Law, which would permit release of it to the public. Ferens theorized that the settlement is more than the county’s deductible amount of $10,000.
Hardiman’s order stated that “the only matters remaining to be completed are the payment of the settlement proceeds, if any, and the submission of a stipulation for dismissal.” The case is currently listed as closed.
Terri Henning, general counsel with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said there is a strong presumption that settlement agreements entered into by public agencies are open records.
Although a judge could seal the settlement, Henning said that having that done is difficult because it only can be done under very limited circumstances. There has been no indication that this settlement has been or will be sealed.
“It’s uncommon and difficult to meet that standard, particularly when it’s a public agency,” she said. “The courts have said that you cannot contract away the public’s right to know.”
The suit named the county, the prison, prison warden Larry Medlock, deputy warden Steven Cmar, the city of Connellsville, city police officer Ronald Haggerty Jr. and Vincent Vidonish, an agent with the state Attorney General’s office.
As the suit made its way through the federal court system, Haggerty, Vindonish, the prison and the city of Connellsville were all dropped as defendants.
Hall brought the suit in 2003, after a jury acquitted him of criminal solicitation and criminal attempt to bring drugs into the prison. He claimed that the county, prison officials and drug agents violated his civil rights. The suit claimed Hall was the victim of a racially motivated plot because he is black and the agents and prison officials are white. He also claimed that those named in the initial suit did not use investigative techniques that would have shown his innocence before he was charged.
The suit claimed that “a code of silence” perpetuated a cover-up between prison officials and police officers who knew the investigation was flawed, but did nothing about it.
As a result of the lacking investigation, the suit claimed that Hall suffered “emotional distress, inconvenience, humiliation, defamation of character, loss of standing among his peers and stress.”
Police alleged that Hall accepted an inmate’s money with the agreement that he was going to bring drugs into the prison. Authorities alleged that on Oct. 23, 2001, he took $150 from an inmate, promising to bring in marijuana. The inmate, who cooperated to get time shaved off of a drunken driving sentence, testified that Hall offered twice before to get him drugs.
Hall said he took the money because it was contraband, and said what he needed to so that the inmate would turn it over. He testified he had no intention of bringing any drugs into the prison.
Hall was charged that night, and fired on Oct. 29, 2001.
He was acquitted of attempting to bring marijuana into the prison following a June 2003 trial. Before the case went to the jury, however, a judge threw out the solicitation charge for lack of evidence.
After the acquittal, Hall tried to get his job back, but an arbitration ruling went against him.
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Staff writer Amy Zalar contributed to this report.