The city of Tulsa settles a lawsuit with a former drug
defendant convicted amid police corruption.
By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
The city of Tulsa has settled for $425,000 the federal
lawsuit of a man who was freed from prison because of corruption within the
Tulsa Police Department, attorneys on both sides of the lawsuit confirmed
Wednesday.
Larry Wayne Barnes Sr., 63, was released from prison after
serving 16 months of a 66-month sentence he received after being convicted in April
2008 of two drug crimes, according to an opinion filed Friday by U.S. District
Judge Joe Heaton.
While Heaton ruled in favor of the city on some issues, he
found that Barnes offered sufficient evidence to dispute whether the city's
policymakers were "deliberately indifferent to the need for further
supervision" over its police officers.
Barnes had alleged that the city had notice of prior
misbehavior by former Officer Jeff Henderson and other officers who were
involved in his arrest yet failed to take appropriate steps to supervise them.
Henderson was convicted of violating suspects' civil rights
and committing perjury. He completed a 42-month prison term in October. He is
one of four officers who were convicted as a result of an investigation into police
corruption.
The officers' trials involved allegations of falsified
search warrants, perjury, witness tampering, selling drugs and drug conspiracy
by several Tulsa police officers and an ATF agent.
At least 48 people, including Barnes, have been freed from
prison or had their cases modified because of civil rights violations or
potential problems with their cases stemming from police corruption.
The judge in Barnes' civil suit decided that his case could
proceed to trial on his Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim, his First
Amendment retaliation claim and his negligence claims against the city.
On Wednesday, a settlement conference was held in Oklahoma
City before U.S. Senior District Judge Lee West. Besides attorneys on each side
of the lawsuit, city of Tulsa spokeswoman Michelle Allen confirmed that Mayor
Dewey Bartlett was in attendance.
Last month, Barnes' 37-year-old daughter, Larita Barnes,
reached a $300,000 settlement with the city. She was convicted in April 2008 of
two drug charges and was sentenced in October 2008 to 10 years in prison, but
she was freed July 2, 2009, as a result of a court order in the fallout of the
police corruption investigation.
Earlier this month, the city reached a $35,000 settlement
with 59-year-old Bobby Wayne Haley Sr., who had served four years of a 22-year
sentence in a federal cocaine case before being released when the corruption
was exposed.
In August, the city settled for $50,000 a lawsuit brought by
33-year-old Demario T. Harris, who had been convicted in Tulsa federal court in
April 2005 of possession of cocaine base with intent to distribute and being a
felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in November 2005 to life in
prison but was ordered freed in October 2010.
Guy Fortney, an attorney representing the city in the
litigation filed as a result of the corruption's exposure, said Wednesday
evening that each of the cases has been evaluated on its own merits.
"Each case has been looked at independently,"
Fortney said. "Each of the plaintiffs is in a very different
position."
He pointed out that the city has received favorable rulings
in several of the nearly 20 cases that have been filed as a result of the
corruption. None of the cases has made it to trial yet.
Art Fleak, one of the attorneys representing Larry Barnes
Sr., said Wednesday that police attempted to "cut corners" while
investigating his client. Fleak said he hopes the settlement "will change
the way our city does business."
Fleak, Fortney and Allen all confirmed the settlement amount
