Jury foreperson in New Hampshire youth center abuse trial ‘devastated’ that award could be slashed
CONCORD, N.H. — Lawyers for a New Hampshire man who prevailed in a landmark lawsuit alleging abuse at a state-run juvenile detention center are asking for a hearing after the jury foreman expressed dismay that the $38 reward million could be reduced to $475,000.
Jurors on Friday awarded $18 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in aggravated damages to David Meehan, who alleged that the state’s negligence caused him to be repeatedly raped, beaten and held in solitary confinement at the Youth Development Center as a teenager Center in Manchester. But the attorney general’s office said the award would be reduced under a state law that allows plaintiffs against the state to recover up to $475,000 per incident.
“I am deeply sorry. I am absolutely devastated,” the jury foreman wrote to attorney Rus Rilee on Friday evening, according to the hearing request filed Saturday.
Jurors were not told about the cap, but were asked how many incidents Meehan had proven. They wrote “one,” but the completed form does not indicate whether they found a single instance of abuse or grouped together all of Meehan’s allegations.
“We had no idea,” wrote the jury chairman. “Had we known that the settlement amount would be calculated on a per-incident basis, I can assure you that our outcome would have reflected this. I pray that Mr. Meehan realizes this and is made as healthy as possible in an appropriate time.”
After consulting with outside counsel with expertise in post-trial matters, Rilee and attorney David Vicinanzo requested a hearing be held Monday. According to their request, Rilee did not see the juror’s email until Saturday and did not respond.
Meehan, 42, went to police in 2017 and sued the state three years later. Since then, 11 former state workers have been arrested and more than 1,100 other former residents of Manchester’s Youth Development Center have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual and emotional abuse over six decades.
Meehan’s lawsuit was the first filed and the first to go to trial. After four weeks of testimony, the jurors reached a verdict within three hours.
During the course of the trial, Meehan’s lawyers accused the state of encouraging a culture of abuse characterized by widespread brutality, corruption and a code of silence. They called more than a dozen witnesses to the stand, including former staff members who said they faced resistance and even threats when they raised concerns or investigated, a former resident who described being gang-raped in a stairwell, and a teacher who said she had noticed suspicious people. bruises on Meehan and half a dozen other boys.
The state argued that it was not liable for the conduct of rogue employees and that Meehan had waited too long to file a lawsuit. Witnesses included Meehan’s father, who responded “yes” when asked if his son had “a reputation for untruthfulness.” Others who testified included a former youth center director who said she had seen no signs of abuse in the past four decades, and a psychiatrist who diagnosed Meehan with bipolar disorder, not the post-traumatic stress disorder he claimed .
In cross-examining Meehan, attorneys for the state portrayed him as a violent child who continued to cause problems at the youth center — and a delusional adult who exaggerates or lies to get money. The approach revealed an unusual dynamic in which the attorney general’s office both defends the state against civil lawsuits and prosecutes suspected perpetrators in criminal cases.