Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
52
Jury finds no racial bias on drug squad
A federal jury found two law enforcement officials with a drug task force did not discriminate against two black officers, even though one official admitted using racial slurs and wearing a mask resembling a black person as a joke.
Seven years after the case was filed and five weeks after the trial started, a jury of six whites and one black took just four hours to conclude Friday that neither Yurli Huff, 35, of Bolingbrook nor John Lewis, 52, of Matteson were victims of discrimination while working for the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of C
ok County. They had sought $7 million in total damages.
Interviewed afterward, several jurors said they found the actions described during the trial -- particularly racial slurs and other
act
ions by task force supervisor Fred
Guerra, 48 -- abhorrent. But they could not find that the specific instances of discrimination he and deputy director Andy Douvris, 53, allegedly committed met each of the six legal criteria needed to sustain a legal finding of discrimination. Under federal law, the discrimination has to be repeated, pervasive and severe.
"They made inappropriate, derogatory racial comments,'' said jury forewoman Victoria Rosenfeld, 32, a dietitian from Aurora. "We would have liked to use the law to send them a message, but we couldn't.''
"We weren't entirely happy with the way things finalized,'' said juror Brian Hazard, 27, an office administrator from Downers Grove, who said jurors were "appalled'' by
the behavior.
The jurors said they quickly agreed that another party charged in the suit -- Cook County -- was not liable because of the actions it took to address the situation. The county
susp
ended Guerra
and demoted Douvris.
An attorney for Huff and Lewis, Andre Grant, called the
verdict "outrageous'' and said it shows that "racism is real and it permeates every aspect of our jury system.'' The first pool of potential jurors contained no blacks, and only one made it to the final group, he said.
Douvris' attorney, Robert Fioretti, said the verdict finally clears his client's name. Still, his career has been derailed by the charges. He was a "shining star'' in the task force and did not tolerate discrimination, Fioretti said.
Attorney James O'Halloran said Guerra did use the n-word but never in the presence of the two black officers. "It was pretty clear there was no discrimination,'' he said.
Bot
h men now work for the Cook County sheriff.
************
Buhahahahaha. And just when I thought Chicago had turned over the keys to the city to a tribe of jungle bunnies.
T.N
.B.
Jury finds no racial bias on drug squad
A federal jury found two law enforcement officials with a drug task force did not discriminate against two black officers, even though one official admitted using racial slurs and wearing a mask resembling a black person as a joke.
Seven years after the case was filed and five weeks after the trial started, a jury of six whites and one black took just four hours to conclude Friday that neither Yurli Huff, 35, of Bolingbrook nor John Lewis, 52, of Matteson were victims of discrimination while working for the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of C
ok County. They had sought $7 million in total damages.
Interviewed afterward, several jurors said they found the actions described during the trial -- particularly racial slurs and other
act
ions by task force supervisor Fred
Guerra, 48 -- abhorrent. But they could not find that the specific instances of discrimination he and deputy director Andy Douvris, 53, allegedly committed met each of the six legal criteria needed to sustain a legal finding of discrimination. Under federal law, the discrimination has to be repeated, pervasive and severe.
"They made inappropriate, derogatory racial comments,'' said jury forewoman Victoria Rosenfeld, 32, a dietitian from Aurora. "We would have liked to use the law to send them a message, but we couldn't.''
"We weren't entirely happy with the way things finalized,'' said juror Brian Hazard, 27, an office administrator from Downers Grove, who said jurors were "appalled'' by
the behavior.
The jurors said they quickly agreed that another party charged in the suit -- Cook County -- was not liable because of the actions it took to address the situation. The county
susp
ended Guerra
and demoted Douvris.
An attorney for Huff and Lewis, Andre Grant, called the
verdict "outrageous'' and said it shows that "racism is real and it permeates every aspect of our jury system.'' The first pool of potential jurors contained no blacks, and only one made it to the final group, he said.
Douvris' attorney, Robert Fioretti, said the verdict finally clears his client's name. Still, his career has been derailed by the charges. He was a "shining star'' in the task force and did not tolerate discrimination, Fioretti said.
Attorney James O'Halloran said Guerra did use the n-word but never in the presence of the two black officers. "It was pretty clear there was no discrimination,'' he said.
Bot
h men now work for the Cook County sheriff.
************
Buhahahahaha. And just when I thought Chicago had turned over the keys to the city to a tribe of jungle bunnies.
T.N
.B.