Judge denies full review of Nathan Bruno's cellphone as negligence lawsuit continues
NEWPORT — Attorneys representing Portsmouth and Jamestown officials in an ongoing negligence lawsuit requested a full forensic review of Nathan Bruno’s cellphone information dating back to 2012 so their medical expert could conduct a “post-mortem psychological autopsy” and deliver an opinion on the cause of Nathan’s death by suicide in 2018, when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Portsmouth High School.
In a written decision filed July 8, Superior Court Associate Justice Richard A. Licht denied the defendants’ motion to compel production of Bruno's cellphone for such a sweeping examination.
"It is the Defendants’ lack of any proposed search protocol or parameters that gives this Court the most pause," Licht wrote. "The forensic search sought by Defendants, as presently proposed, risks turning every bit of data on Nathan’s cellphone into a Rorschach test for their retained forensic psychiatrist.”
Licht's decision also pointed out a forensic review of six years of cellphone information — dating back to when Bruno was 9 years old — was unlikely to turn up communications directly relevant to Bruno’s mindset in the days leading up to his death, given his father had taken his phone away on Feb 2, 2018.
The same day Bruno sat for an interview at the Jamestown Police station, admitted to sending a series of anonymous text messages and calls to his former football coach Ryan Moniz and was criminally charged. Bruno’s phone was never returned to him between that day and his suicide on Feb. 7, 2018.
However, the court allowed for a limited exploration of Bruno’s cellphone data from 30 days before his first call to Moniz to the date of his death, provided that counsel for the defendants and the plaintiffs — Bruno’s parents, Richard Bruno and Misty Kolbeck — “devise a protocol to ensure that … 'sensitive or embarrassing materials of marginal relevance’ are not produced except for confidential review by the Court.”
Be Great for Nate: Organization created in honor of Nathan Bruno suspends operations after director charged
Defendants in the case are Lisa Mills, finance director for the town of Portsmouth; Portsmouth High School Athletic Director Stephen Trezvant; now-retired Portsmouth High School Principal Joseph Amaral; then-Portsmouth High School Associate Principal Paige Kirwin-Clair; Portsmouth Police officer Maddi Pirri; Christina Collins, finance director for the town of Jamestown; Jamestown Police Detective Derek Carlino; and Moniz.
The decision further stipulated if the two sides could not agree on a protocol within 30 days, they would be required to submit their respective proposals in a redlined document highlighting the disagreements, and the court would establish the protocol.
The original lawsuit filed by Bruno’s parents alleges they were not properly informed by the Portsmouth School Department, nor the Jamestown Police Department about the issues with Moniz and the subsequent police investigation, and that Carlino improperly shared information about the investigation with Moniz while leaving Richard Bruno and Kolbeck in the dark.
Licht's decision indicates that after receiving a complaint from Moniz, issuing a subpoena to Cox Communications and tracing the calls and messages back to Nathan, Carlino contacted Nathan’s father. It also states Richard Bruno accompanied Nathan to his interview at the Jamestown Police Department, where Nathan admitted to making the calls and indicated there were two other Portsmouth High School football players who were involved but refused to divulge their names. Nathan was “immediately charged with cyberstalking and cyber harassment.”
Suicide prevention: Be Great for Nate offers first public suicide prevention training since Nathan Bruno Act
The defendants’ request for cellphone information going back well before the incidents leading up to Bruno’s death, and years before he even entered high school, as well as language from the defendants’ motion the court quoted in a footnote, seem to suggest a line of legal argument moving the blame for Bruno’s state of mind directly prior to his suicide away from the police investigation, pending criminal charges and tense situation with peers and faculty he was facing at school:
“(Bruno’s phone) would likely contain responsive communications and materials which would speak to Nathan(’s) ... state of mind and his mental health. It may contain an actual, or the functional equivalent of, a suicide note ... It would likely contain communications which would speak to the relationship between Nathan ... and his father, Richard Bruno.”
In the days leading up to his death, Bruno was facing criminal charges from the police and also being pressured by school administrators and classmates to divulge the names of the two other students who had called and texted Moniz during the same time period.
On Feb. 6, 2018, the same day Bruno was called into a meeting with the principal and the athletic director at school, two members of the football team visited Nathan and his father at home and tried to convince him to talk, explaining Moniz had held a team meeting and told his football players he would resign from his coaching position if the names of the other students involved weren’t revealed.
Remembering Nathan Bruno: Three years after Nathan Bruno's death, his father reflects, works to keep legacy alive
No other students ever stepped forward to admit participation in calling and messaging Moniz, and it is unclear whether the police investigation and subsequent subpoena of Cox Communications ever turned up additional suspects.
Bruno did offer to meet with Moniz and apologize for his own actions, but the coach initially conditioned his willingness to meet and hear an apology from Bruno only if he revealed the names of the other students involved. Moniz later changed his mind, but Bruno died by suicide before a meeting could be arranged.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Nathan Bruno negligence lawsuit: Judge denies full cellphone review
