California IN BRIEF : MARTINEZ : Victims of Botched Raid to Get $660,000

A jury awarded $660,000 in damages against the state for a raid in which officers seeking a parolee burst into a home, handcuffed the parolee’s wife and her son and dumped her late husband’s ashes on the floor. Lawyers in the case said the verdict Thursday by the Contra Costa County Superior Court jury was the first against the Corrections Department’s Special Services Unit, which hunts parolees suspected of lawbreaking. A lawyer for plaintiff Bettye Davis of Richmond and her family said Friday that in addition to damages, they want Superior Court Judge Peter Spinetta to order the state unit to improve its training and change its practices. Deputy Atty. Gen. George Prince said that the officers in the raid were well trained and that each had been with the department at least 17 years. He said the jury’s finding that the search of the home was unreasonable would not justify an order applying to all cases.