Judge won't reconvene jury after disputed verdict in New Hampshire youth center abuse case

Superior Court Justice Andrew Schulman conducts a bench hearing with lawyers during the trial for David Meehan at Rockingham Superior Court in Brentwood, N.H., Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

Meehan’s lawyers asked Judge Andrew Schulman on Tuesday to reconvene and poll the jury, arguing that multiple emails they received from distraught jurors showed that they misunderstood a question on the verdict form about the number of incidents for which the state was liable. But Schulman said Wednesday that recalling the jury would be inappropriate given that jurors have been exposed to “intense publicity and criticism of their verdict.

“We are not going to get a new verdict from the same jury,” he wrote in a brief order. “Regardless of what the jurors now think of their verdict, their testimony is not admissible to change it.”Trump fined $1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case as ex-employee recounts reimbursementsJurors were unaware of the state law that caps damages at $475,000 per incident.

Schulman, who plans to elaborate in a longer order, acknowledged that “the finding of ‘one incident’ was contrary to the weight of the evidence,” and said he would entertain motions to set aside the verdict or order a new trial. But he said a better option might be a practice described in a 1985 New Hampshire Supreme Court. In that case, the court found that a trial judge could add damages to the original amount awarded by the jury if a defendant waives a new trial.

Meehan’s lawsuit was the first to go to trial. Over four weeks, his attorneys contended that the state encouraged a culture of abuse marked by pervasivelying to get money. Defense attorneys also said the state was not liable for the conduct of rogue employees and that Meehan waited too long to sue.

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