Homeless Man Awarded $9,300 for Belongings : Courts: Santa Ana rebuked for removing possessions in another legal blow to city’s efforts to police Civic Center.

In a rebuke of Santa Ana’s handling of its homeless population, a Superior Court jury decided Friday that the city violated the rights of a homeless man when maintenance workers confiscated his belongings and threw them away during a 1989 sweep of the Civic Center.

The jury, voting 11 to 1, awarded Mashone Bonner $9,300 for the loss of his property, which he said included a diamond ring and watch given to him by his estranged wife and photographs of his three daughters. A jury has to vote at least 9 to 3 to render a verdict in civil cases.

The jury’s award is about three times what the city could have paid to settle the case nine months ago, said Bonner’s attorney, Christopher B. Mears.

“This great country of ours--this system works,” Bonner, 45, said with a wide smile after the verdict was announced. “Even if you are a homeless citizen--which is what I prefer to be called--the system works for the homeless citizens.”

But City Atty. Edward J. Cooper, who did not represent the city in the case but testified during the trial, said the city would appeal the verdict.

“The jury was absolutely wrong,” Cooper said. “Obviously, the jurors chose to believe Mr. Bonner and not our city employees.”

Some jurors said after the verdict that they were convinced by Mears’ arguments that the confiscation of Bonner’s property was part of an effort to drive the growing homeless population out of Santa Ana.

During final arguments, Mears ran his fingers through Bonner’s gray hair as a way of rejecting Mayor Daniel H. Young’s earlier testimony that the belongings of the homeless are “lice-infested.” At one point, Mears broke down in tears while arguing for his client.

Juror Kathryn Young, a Caltrans employee, said after the verdict: “You don’t solve the problem of public urination by picking up someone’s personal belongings and stuffing them in the trash.”

Jury foreman Mahlon McLean, who said he had argued for a greater award for Bonner, said the jury’s message was: “Yes, the city has a problem with homeless people, but they have chosen a very poor route to achieve their goals.”

Added juror Tod Mitcham, a firefighter who works in Los Angeles County: “Although there may not have been an official (council) policy of trying to get rid of the homeless or get them out of the city, in my thinking, there was an attitude that that’s how they were going to deal with the problem.”

Juror Bonnie Anderson of Huntington Beach was alone in voting against Bonner during the three hours of deliberations. She did not want to discuss the case, but said that the decision had not been a hard one for her to reach.

Cooper said the message he received from the verdict was: “Do not clean up the Civic Center at all . . . don’t pick up anything even if it appears that it’s garbage.”

The city’s trial attorney, Phillip D. Eaton, had argued that Bonner’s belongings--kept in a plastic garbage bag and hidden in bushes near the County Hall of Administration--could have been mistaken for trash. City officials also testified that they had been under pressure from citizens to clean up the Civic Center and parks where the homeless live.

“I really believe that the city is in a position where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” Eaton said after the verdict.

Mears called on city officials to “start dealing with this problem in a mature, humane and courageous manner.” However, he added, he expected that “they are going to continue to function in a state of denial.”

The city has previously paid about $500,000 to settle other lawsuits brought by homeless people, including a $22,500 payment to Bonner stemming from a 1990 police sweep through the Civic Center in which more than 60 people were arrested for offenses ranging from littering to jaywalking.

The retrial of the Bonner lawsuit began last week, three days after another jury deadlocked over the issue of whether the city had properly posted warnings about the disposal of abandoned property at Civic Center and how to reclaim it.

Mears said he will ask Judge Eileen C. Moore to order the city to pay for court costs, plus his legal fees, which could reach $50,000.

Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this report.