Partial Verdict Reached In Jordan Miles Civil Trial
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A partial verdict has been reached on the fifth day of deliberations in the civil trial for three Pittsburgh Police officers accused of beating a former CAPA student.
The jury found that there is no evidence Jordan Miles was victim of malicious prosecution. That was the only count they could agree on.
According to KDKA-TV's Harold Hayes, the jury was hopelessly deadlocked on the issues of false arrest and excessive force. On those counts, the judge declared a mistrial.
Miles' attorneys said they will pursue a retrial on the the other counts that resulted in a mistrial.
Attorneys for the officers say they were partially vindicated when the jury evaluated Miles' story.
"He said the first time he realized they were police was when he was being put in a police van after 10 minutes and the officers said, 'No. He knew from the get go we were police,'" Bryan Campbell, Michael Saldutte's attorney, said.
"They were deadlocked on the other two issues and basically, that's the crux of our case, though in one way though you have to accept that the jury found this - that's something we accept," J. Kerrington Lewis, Miles' attorney, said. "But we also accept that they can't make up their mind about it and perhaps a new jury can do a little better."
James Wymard, Officer David Sisak's attorney, disagrees.
"It's going to be hard for them to gun up and go a second time," he said. "We won the verdict on the one count and that was unanimous, you know. The burden's on them if you have to go a second time to try to convince all eight jurors and that's not going to be easy."
Tim O'Brien, Jordan Miles' attorney, says the fundamental issue of the case has yet to be solved.
"And the fundamental issue in this case is whether three city of Pittsburgh police officers unnecessarily beat and used deadly force on an 18-year-old citizen with no criminal record who was doing nothing more than walking from his mother's house to his grandmother's house based on some imaginary bulge in his pocket," he said.
Neither Miles nor the officers would comment immediately after today's session.
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