Army lieutenant who sued Windsor police officers for assault asks for new trial after jury awards $3,685
An Army lieutenant who sought $1 million in damages, but was awarded $3,685, in an excessive force lawsuit against two Windsor police officers has filed a motion seeking a new trial, with his attorneys calling the jury’s decision a “miscarriage of justice.”
Lt. Caron Nazario filed the motion Friday in U.S. District Court in Richmond, just three days after his weeklong trial against officer Daniel Crocker and former officer Joseph Gutierrez ended. His attorneys argued the jury’s decision was contrary to the evidence and came after a defense expert offered false evidence.
Nazario, who is Black and Latino, sued the officers in 2021, claiming they assaulted, battered and wrongly detained him during a controversial December 2020 traffic stop. A psychologist and psychiatrist who’ve been treating him since then testified he suffers from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.
Police body camera footage entered into evidence showed both officers approaching Nazario’s SUV with their guns drawn, and Gutierrez pepper spraying the Army officer through an open window after he repeatedly said he was afraid to step out. Both officers knocked Nazario to the ground once he was out, and Crocker searched his vehicle after Nazario said he had a gun in the glove compartment.
Gutierrez and Crocker said they pulled Nazario over for failing to properly display a license plate on his vehicle, which he’d recently purchased. They also said they considered it a high-risk traffic stop because he continued to drive for about a mile before stopping. Nazario said it was because it was dark and he was looking for a well-lit place to pull into.
Gutierrez was fired shortly after footage from the officer’s body cameras went viral, but Crocker was allowed to keep his job.
The jury found Gutierrez assaulted Nazario and ordered him to pay $2,685 in damages. The panel, however, determined Gutierrez hadn’t battered or falsely detained him, and hadn’t aided in the search of his vehicle, which a judge had already ruled was illegal. For Crocker, the jury only found him liable for the unlawful search and ordered him to pay $1,000 in damages.
In their motion for the new trial, attorneys Jonathan Arthur and Thomas Roberts argued a trial judge has a duty to set aside a verdict and order a new trial “if he is of the opinion that the verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence, or is based upon evidence which is false or will result in a miscarriage of justice.”
The motion claims the panel’s decision showed it failed to properly follow the law and jury instructions, based its determination on false evidence from a defense expert, and came up with a verdict that was against the clear weight of the evidence.
Under the instructions given to the jury, it’s “not possible” to determine Gutierrez assaulted Nazario, but didn’t batter and unlawfully detain him, the motion said.
“Pursuant to the jury instructions, the assault triggered Lt. Nazario’s right to resist and necessarily the right to refuse to exit the vehicle,” the motion said. As a result, any force Gutierrez used to overcome Nazario’s resistance would be a battery, and if the battery extended the traffic stop, any detention of Nazario during that time would be illegal.
The motion also claimed defense expert Dr. Keyhill Sheorn provided false information when she said Nazario didn’t meet the criteria needed to be diagnosed with the conditions his medical providers said he developed as a result of the officers’ actions. The motion said Sheorn “knowingly and intentionally” added the false criteria in order to assert Nazario wasn’t injured.
Anne Lahren, one of the attorneys who represents Crocker, said she expects Nazario’s request for a new trial to be denied.
“A motion for a new trial seeks an extraordinary remedy reserved by the Courts for exceptional circumstances which are not present here,” Lahren wrote in an email. “Caron Nazario is unhappy with the jury’s verdict and seeks to blame the trial itself rather than the merits, or lack thereof, of his own claims. We firmly believe that the jury got it right with its verdict. Judge (Roderick) Young presided over the trial in strict adherence to the Federal Rules and any claims to the contrary by Mr. Nazario are unfounded.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
