Update: Retrial of smoke-shop civil case begins
5:02 PM Tue, Jul 22, 2008 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE -- Attorneys gave their opening statements and the first witnesses took the stand in the civil trial of a state trooper accused of violating a Narragansett tribe member's civil rights during the 2003 raid on a tribal smoke shop. Trooper Kenneth Jones is accused of twisting Adam Jennings' ankle until it broke during the July 14, 2003, raid on tribal land in Charlestown. In U.S. District Court, Providence, this morning, Jennings' lawyer, Michael Bradley, said evidence would show that Jennings was obeying police commands, but that Jones nevertheless used excessive force, twisting his ankle and snapping it in two places. Rebecca Partington, an assistant attorney general representing Jones, said Jennings had resisted the police, and Jones was using his training to meet the amount of resistance he was facing. Called to the stand today were Jennings, smoke-shop worker Domingo Monroe and state police Det. Kenneth Bell to the stand. Bell will return to the stand tomorrow. Jennings testified that he was following state police orders when he went to leave the shop and was descended upon by a group of officers who slammed him to the floor. Partington got Jennings to admit he had lied on a sworn statement he gave in 2004 when he did not mention that he had been charged with resisting arrest in another case one month earlier. Bell testified that he told another officer to handcuff Jennings after he had repeated outbursts inside the shop. At Governor Carcieri's orders, the state police executed a search warrant on the shop to stop the Narragansetts from selling tax-free cigarettes. The raid descended into a confrontation that left at least eight people, including Jennings, injured and eight tribe members under arrest. Also shown in court today were state police and smoke-shop surveillance videos taken of the raid. See the videos at projo.com/smokeshop. This is the second time the case has gone to trial. In 2005, a jury found that Jones used excessive force and battery against Jennings. The jury awarded Jennings $301,000. -- With reports from Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres overturned that verdict, but the federal appeals court ruled in Jennings' favor, sending the case back to Torres to consider motions he did not rule on after the 2005 trial. In May, Torres granted the state's motion for a new trial. In ruling, he wrote that the state police testimony proved more believable than that of defense witnesses and Jennings during the 2005 trial. A jury was picked last week, and Chief U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi is presiding over the trial, which is expected to take a week. A criminal trial against seven Narragansett tribal members -- including Jennings -- that stemmed from the raid ended last April, with the jury splitting its verdicts on the misdemeanor charges. Jennings was found not guilty of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. 
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what a waste of money for the state.
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