JOHN O’CONNOR
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A former Illinois State Police investigator whom a jury in a civil lawsuit found had his constitutional rights violated by his superiors accepted a federal judge’s award of $360,000 in damages Wednesday.
Michale Callahan told The Associated Press that state police lawyers were trying to convince him to accept an out-of-court settlement as late as Wednesday afternoon to prevent them from having to fire two state police executives a jury ruled last spring retaliated against him.
State law requires the immediate discharge of state policy-makers who can hire and fire if a court ruling finds they violated another employee’s civil rights.
State Police spokesman Master Sgt. Rick Hector said Wednesday night he could not comment on whether the state will appeal or whether Lt. Col. Diane Carper and Capt. Steven Fermon would be fired.
Jurors in a civil lawsuit decided in April that Carper and Fermon violated Callahan’s civil rights by transferring him to a patrol division when he persisted in reinvestigating a 1986 double murder in Paris that the superiors called “too politically sensitive.”
The jury awarded him $210,000 in compensatory damages and $472,300 in punitive damages but U.S. District Judge Harold Baker last month reduced the punitive award to $150,000 to better reflect Carper’s and Fermon’s net worth.
Callahan, a former state police lieutenant, had considered asking for a new trial on the issue of punitive damages.
“I don’t agree with the judge lowering the punitive damages as he did because it hurt my family on a personal basis,” Callahan told the AP. “But I do respect him because he did his job in protecting our First Amendment, which is the most important thing.”
Carper, 48, who makes $117,400, and Fermon, 45, whose salary is $105,600, have remained on the state payroll since the jury’s verdict.
When the AP asked Gov. Rod Blagojevich in June why they were still on the job, he ordered his lawyer to study the matter, and the lawyer said he would not offer an opinion until the case was finalized.
Blagojevich aides were unaware of Callahan’s decision and couldn’t comment Wednesday night, spokeswoman Abby Ottenhoff said.
According to Callahan, state police attorney Keith Jensen said he wanted to settle the matter of damages out of court because if Callahan accepted the judge’s order, “they were told by the governor’s office that they would have to fire Fermon and Carper.”
A message left at Jensen’s office after business hours Wednesday was not returned. A home telephone number for him could not immediately be found.
Callahan’s lawyer, John A. Baker of Springfield, did not dispute the statement but would not comment on it.
Sponsors of the 1988 law have said their intention was that state employees be fired immediately upon a jury or judge’s decision. Lead sponsor Rep. Mary Flowers, a Chicago Democrat, on Wednesday released a memo she requested from House staff that agreed with her, saying, “It is unclear why the employees were not immediately discharged in April.”
The memo said Carper and Fermon were policy-makers for purposes of the law because they have the authority to transfer, reward, or discipline employees. The state police have said they’re studying whether the two fall under the category.