Man Jailed for 9 Months to Get $70,000 For Wrongful Arrest in Armed Robberies

A state civil jury has found that a Prince George's County police detective violated the rights of a Southeast Washington man by arresting him without sufficient evidence in two armed robberies, charges that were dropped in 2005 after the man spent nine months in jail.

The jury awarded Robert L. Pearson $70,000 in damages. During a four-day trial in Circuit Court in Upper Marlboro, Pearson's attorneys presented evidence that Detective Kirk McLean manipulated photo arrays he showed to the two victims to nudge them toward identifying Pearson as the culprit.

Both victims picked Pearson, 26, from the photo spread, but one testified during the trial that her attacker had a different complexion from Pearson's, and the other testified that her attacker, unlike Pearson, did not have a facial tattoo. The second woman retracted her identification just before Pearson was to go on trial in her case.

Pearson was arrested in the two armed robberies in June 2004 and was not released until late March 2005, after county prosecutors dropped both charges against him.

"I'm happy with the outcome," Pearson said after the jury returned the verdict Thursday evening, following about 90 minutes of deliberation. "There was some justice done."

McLean, who joined the police force in 1998 and is now assigned to the internal affairs unit, did not respond to a phone call. Timothy W. Fitzmaurice, the associate county attorney who defended him and the county, declined to comment.

One juror, a 64-year-old Glenn Dale resident, said the evidence of misconduct by McLean was strong. "I do believe the Prince George's County Police Department has to clean up its act," said the woman, who declined to be identified because she feared retaliation.

"To be put in jail for nine months for something you didn't do . . . " the juror said, her voice trailing off. The juror said she believed civilian witnesses who contradicted McLean, especially the two robbery victims.

Timothy F. Maloney, Pearson's attorney, said: "Witness statements and photo arrays shouldn't be manipulated. When that happens, innocent people go to jail."

Maloney said he expects Fitzmaurice to file motions asking Circuit Court Judge Nicholas E. Rattal, who presided over the trial, to throw out the verdict or reduce the award. The county indemnifies police officers who are sued for their actions in the line of duty and pays any civil awards or settlements arising from such lawsuits.

The series of events that led to Pearson's arrest began shortly after 7 a.m. Jan. 21, 2004, when Melissa Huyck was robbed at gunpoint in Mount Rainier, according to court testimony and records. The robber took her purse and cellphone.

McLean testified during the civil trial that Huyck's cellphone records showed calls being made the morning of the robbery to a District man, Jonathan Offer, who told him that the calls came from Pearson. Offer testified that he never said that to McLean.

McLean testified that Huyck and the other robbery victim, Trina Lynn King, picked Pearson's photo from an array in "seconds." Huyck testified that it took her about 30 minutes to do so; King testified that it took her 11 to 15 minutes.

Huyck said she told the detective that the complexion of the man who robbed her was lighter than Pearson's and that McLean told her the photographic process might have darkened Pearson's features. McLean testified that he never said that.

King testified in a previous court hearing that McLean told her each of the six men whose photos she was viewing had committed similar crimes. McLean testified that he never said that.