NORWALK : Jury Assesses Deputy D.A. $7,000 for Ordering Arrests
A Norwalk Superior Court jury awarded $7,000 in punitive damages Wednesday against a former deputy district attorney for ordering the arrests of four former Pico Rivera residents 11 years ago on child molestation charges that were dismissed.
The award came one day after the jury granted $7.3 million in general damages to Timothy and Helen O’Keefe and Jose Valentin and Myrna Malave, couples who once lived on the same block in Pico Rivera.
The jury was asked to also consider punitive damages against the county, five sheriff’s deputies involved in the arrests and the deputy district attorney, R. Zaiden Corrado.
The jury decided to assess damages only against Corrado, who was accused of overstepping his authority for allegedly ordering the arrests of the four residents in April, 1984.
Peter Glick, an attorney for the defendants, argued that the authorities acted within reason, based on information that they had been given at the time. Corrado was not available for comment.
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