Court upholds ruling against Tulsa ex-sheriff

TULSA — An appellate court Monday upheld a 2016 jury verdict in favor of a juvenile female who sued former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz after she alleged was sexually assaulted in the Tulsa jail.

The “evidence shows that Glanz knew the policies he implemented with respect to juvenile female inmates created an excessive risk of sexual assault and that he was deliberately indifferent to that risk,” according to a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel opinion.

“Although Glanz acknowledged that juvenile female inmates were at a heightened risk of sexual abuse, he chose to house them in an area of the jail that was visually isolated, unmonitored, and often staffed by only one male officer, and where a prior incident of misconduct had occurred,” the opinion continued.

In addition to finding that the evidence supported the jury’s conclusions that Glanz caused a violation of the female’s constitutional rights and that he acted with a “sufficiently culpable state of mind,” the 10th Circuit panel ruled he was not entitled to qualified immunity, meaning he could be sued in his personal capacity.

Tulsa County officials in March 2016 voted to appeal the jury verdict in a federal civil rights lawsuit that alleged a juvenile female was sexually assaulted by a male detention officer while held 2010 in the medical unit of Tulsa jail.

A jury awarded $25,000 to the plaintiff, whom the World has not identified, to be paid by the county and Glanz, who was named in his official capacity as well as personally as a defendant.

The jury found the woman was assaulted on numerous occasions over several months by Tulsa Jail detention officer Seth Bowers while she was held in isolation in a medical unit cell in an area with no surveillance cameras.

Bowers later resigned as a detention officer and was dismissed as a defendant in the lawsuit as the result of an undisclosed settlement. The Tulsa County district attorney declined to file criminal charges against Bowers in connection with the allegations, citing a lack of corroborating evidence.

“We are very pleased that the 10th Circuit has affirmed the jury’s verdict and the court’s evidentiary rulings on all fronts,” plaintiff attorney Dan Smolen said in a statement. “This opinion provides further proof that the Sheriff’s Office, under former Sheriff Glanz, was out of control and sorely lacking the supervision and leadership necessary to comply with basic constitutional norms.

“The opinion and order is also additional evidence of a failed legal strategy. The county’s lawyers have opted to fight the civil rights cases against Glanz and TCSO every step of the way, rather than acknowledging the obvious problem and seeking an amicable resolution. This unfortunate litigation strategy has proven to be an unmitigated disaster for the county and Mr. Glanz.”

The verdict also meant that the plaintiff’s attorneys were entitled to recover their fees from Tulsa County and Glanz.

However, a magistrate has recommended that the plaintiff attorneys are entitled to recover only $37,500 in fees, rather than the nearly $660,000 sought.

Attorneys for Tulsa County and Glanz successfully argued that the Prison Law Reform Act, which limits attorney fees to 150 percent of a judgment, applies in this case because the plaintiff was in jail when the lawsuit was filed.

Attorneys for the now25-year-old woman are opposing the ruling regarding whether the Prison Law Reform Act applies in this case. U.S. District Judge John Dowdell has yet to issue a ruling regarding attorney fees.