Pubdate: Fri, 31 Mar 2006
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2006 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Michael C. Bender, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DELRAY FAMILY AWARDED $2 MILLION IN STRIP-SEARCH LAWSUIT

TALLAHASSEE - A black Delray Beach family trumpeted their faith in
God and the U.S. legal system after a jury awarded them $2 million in
damages Thursday upon deciding that five white North Florida sheriff's
deputies had violated their civil rights.

"I am happy that I came and did what I had to do," 20-year-old Cynthia
McCloud said. "It's been really hard to sit and listen to everything
again. I got through it because my mom and my family were here
supporting me."

McCloud was 15 when she and her family -- her mother, Arnetta; her
father, Freddy; and cousin Marcus Frazier -- were pulled over by
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office deputies and detained for more than
four hours.

In emotional testimony, she told jurors that officers made her disrobe
from the waist down on the roadside while they used a flashlight to
search for drugs.

The family's attorney, Guy Rubin of Martin County, asked jurors for at
least $7 million to punish the sheriff's office. Following the
verdict, which came after three days of deliberations and six days of
testimony in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, he said it was "a
wonderful day."

"This jury gave an award of damages that sent a message loud and clear
to all sheriffs in this state and to all law enforcement that you
cannot trample on the Fourth Amendment in the state of Florida," Rubin
said. "And if you do, there is going to be a price to pay."

During their 24 hours of deliberation, the seven jurors, one black and
six white, sent several questions to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle
about a battery charge listed on the jury instructions. Rubin waived
the charge Thursday, saying it was not crucial to the case, and an
hour later the jurors signaled they had reached a verdict.

After Hinkle read their verdict, jurors were ushered from the
courthouse through a back door and were unavailable for comment.

The defense -- which included the sheriff's office and the five
deputies -- refused to comment.

"I can't say anything. I'm sorry," now-retired Undersheriff Michael
Joyner said.

Asked whether they would appeal, defense attorney David Cornell said,
"I don't have anything to say at this time."

According to testimony from the trial, the July 2001 traffic stop
unfolded as follows:

The McClouds were pulled over because deputies suspected Freddy
McCloud of selling cocaine.

The family let deputies search their car with dogs and asked to leave
when nothing was found.

After the car search, deputy Gerald Knecht asked his supervisor,
William Hayes, what to do. Hayes, head of the sheriff's office drug
task force, is heard on a tape saying, "I ain't going to let my money
walk."

Earlier that day, deputies said, they gave $450 to an informant to buy
cocaine from Freddy McCloud. McCloud was later charged with selling
drugs, but the case was dismissed when the informant refused to cooperate.

After Hayes' comments, the McClouds were put into police cars while
Cynthia and her mother were strip-searched.

In addition to Joyner, Hayes and Knecht, the other defendants included
deputies David Clark and George Stinson, who now works for the Leon
County Sheriff's Office.

The two McCloud women and Frazier were the plaintiffs in the case.
Freddy McCloud was not.

Cynthia was searched twice.

The second time, while she was standing on the side of the road after
midnight, she was forced to pull her pants down while a female officer
searched her with a flashlight.

"She was a very young girl at the time," Arnetta McCloud said after
the verdict. "It's been very stressful."

Arnetta McCloud said the trial "was not all about the
money."

"It was letting everybody know what happened to us on that dark road
that night," she said. "We thank God first. There is justice in the
United States."

The McClouds said that after the strip-searches, deputies forced them
to return to a relative's home in Monticello where they had been
celebrating Arnetta's birthday. The McClouds said they were moving the
party to another family member's home in Tallahassee when they were
pulled over.

During the search of the Monticello home, deputies used racial slurs
and dragged family members from their beds, the McClouds said.

Deputies denied those claims in court, saying there were no strip-
searches and that the family consented to a search of the Monticello
home.

"It's over now, and we can try to move on to another chapter of our
lives," Arnetta McCloud said. "It's one step at a time. Put God first,
and everything else will fall into place."
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