Today, a federal jury returned a civil verdict of $1 million against the City of New Orleans in a case brought by Most & Associates. The case involved a former New Orleans Police Department officer named Rodney Vicknair who met a fourteen-year-old child in the course of taking the child to the hospital for a rape kit after a sexual assault.

Officer Vicknair maintained contact with the child after the hospital, and as she testified at trial, Officer Vicknair sexually assaulted her four times over the next few months. Vicknair was subsequently arrested, plead guilty, and was sentenced to federal prison. He died of a brain tumor shortly after beginning his prison sentence.

The questions for the jury were how much the City should pay to the plaintiff for the battery, assault, and false imprisonment, and whether the City was also responsible for the constitutional violations.

At trial, the young woman’s lawyers offered evidence about Officer Vicknair’s criminal history –that he had been arrested for serious crimes including battery, aggravated assault, and attempted burglary – all before the City hired him to be an officer. Attorneys Hope Phelps and William Most framed it as not a story of “an officer who turned into a criminal, but a criminal the City turned into an officer.”

Most & Associates lawyers also provided evidence about the days leading up to the final sexual assault. They showed the jury a text message sent to Shaun Ferguson, then the head of the NOPD, five days before the final sexual assault. The text message warned of a “potential sexual abuse of a minor by an officer.” At trial, former chief Ferguson admitted that he did not tell anyone about that text message.

After three hours of deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of Most & Associates’ client on all claims, and awarded the client $1 million in damages. Minutes after the jury verdict, the judge ruled that the plaintiff would also be entitled to her attorneys fees.

Attorney William Most commented: “We hope that the New Orleans Police Department takes this verdict as a wake-up-call and ensures that no other officers use the privilege of their badge and uniform to sexually abuse members of our community.”

Attorney Hope Phelps of Most & Associates commented: “We're so proud of our client’s courage. This is how change happens.”

Read more in the Washington Post here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/08/21/new-orleans-police-sexual-abuse-verdict/

Read more in the New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/22/us/new-orleans-officer-sexual-assault.html