Case Settled : Jury Verdict Too Late by a Few Minutes

A judge who presided over a week of testimony in a libel suit by a policeman against a state representative did not have the heart to tell jurors that the case was dropped while they deliberated.

Police Lt. Donell Whitfield and Rep. Elbert Walton Jr. agreed to drop the case after the jury began deciding its verdict. No damages were awarded and the men agreed to split the court costs.

But just as the agreement was signed, jurors sent word to Circuit Judge Michael Godfrey that they had reached a decision.

Taking into consideration that the jurors had sat through seven days of claims and counterclaims, Godfrey let them file into the courtroom and announce their verdict as if it mattered.

The jury ruled for Whitfield and would have awarded him $10,000 in damages.

Told of the settlement, jury foreman John Payne said: “That’s quite a letdown. It kind of looks like our time was just wasted.”

Payne, a part-time truck driver, said he lost $700 by serving on the jury.

Whitfield’s suit had accused Walton of lying about him in a letter to the police board in August, 1980. The officer said the letter, which accused him of illegal political activity by chauffeuring a candidate on election day, damaged his career.