麻豆传媒

A Connecticut murder exoneree is entitled to nearly $2 million in interest payments on top of a $5.7 million jury verdict against the estate of a deceased town of New Milford police officer, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden of the District of Connecticut on Friday approved Ralph "Ricky" Birch's bid for offer-of-compromise interest, noting that the March 19 verdict awarding $5.7 million surpassed Birch's sealed Oct. 25, 2021, settlement offer and was fully covered by the resulting interest calculations.

Under Connecticut law, because Birch filed the offer of compromise within 18 months of his Dec. 2, 2020, complaint, it triggered an 8% simple interest calculation spanning the four years and 108 days from the filing of the case to the date of the judgment, Judge Bolden indicated.

The judge also said the town was responsible for the verdict against the estate of former Police Officer David Shortt under Section 52-557n(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes, which requires municipal governments to back judgments against their officers.

A jury of eight men concluded that Shortt acted negligently by failing to raise red flags during a state police interview of a Virginia inmate who claimed to have known Birch from a previous juvenile stint.

The state police fed that inmate, Todd Cocchia, key details about the 1985 murder of Everett Carr, Birch's attorneys told the jury.

Cocchina testified during Birch's 1989 felony murder trial that Birch had confessed to killing Carr, but Cocchina recanted that testimony 27 years later, Birch's attorneys said.

The jury declined to conclude that Shortt's actions played a role in evidence fabrication under federal civil rights laws, instead issuing a verdict against Shortt under common-law negligence standards.

The jury declined to hold another former New Milford cop, Steven Jordan, liable under any legal theory after a two-week trial in New Haven federal court.

Birch claimed that Jordan did not properly catalog a bank envelope containing $1,000 in cash that was probably discovered in plain view during an early law enforcement sweep of Carr's home.

Had he known about the discovery, Birch said, he would have used it to help prove that he didn't kill Carr as part of a burglary gone wrong, because a true burglar would have pocketed the money instead of leaving it behind.

According to Birch, Jordan returned the cash to Carr's daughter, and it was never included in evidence submitted to his criminal defense attorney.

Jordan said it was unclear from scant police records where and when the cash turned up. He said it was probably hidden and likely wasn't discovered until a more thorough cataloging took place in the days after the killing.

Prosecutors in 1989 convinced a jury that Birch and an associate, Shawn Henning, beat Carr, stabbed him 27 times and slit his throat during the overnight hours of Dec. 1 through Dec. 2, 1985.

During the civil rights case that ended with Friday's judgment, Birch's attorneys said the criminal trial evidence never pointed toward guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The authorities mistakenly assumed that Carr's killing occurred during a burglary during which few things were taken, and the only evidence linking Birch and Henning to the crime was a witness' claim that a loud car might have been in the area when Carr died.

Though Birch and Henning were area burglars trying to feed a drug habit, they weren't violent, Birch's attorneys said.

And no evidence from the bloody scene was ever recovered inside the dirty, unkempt car where they had been living, they added.

The true killer left several bloody shoeprints inside Carr's home. The pattern didn't match any of the shoes Birch or Henning wore, and the size was far too small to have been left by either of the two men, who were teenagers at the time, Birch's attorneys argued.

Unknown DNA eventually turned up at the scene mingled with the victim's blood, they added.  

New Milford's deputy police chief testified that Birch and Henning always maintained their innocence and that he believed that they weren't involved with the killing.

He was sidelined because of that belief, he told the federal jury in March.

Cocchia's coached testimony was the crucial link that led to the charges, the trial,and the conviction, Birch argued.

Birch's attorneys had asked the jury for a $50 million award.

Birch was behind bars from age 22 until age 52. He is now 58.

The Connecticut Supreme Court in 2019 tossed Birch's and Henning's convictions. Prosecutors refused to try them a second time.

The state entered separate settlements with Birch and co-defendant Shawn Henning for $12.6 million each over bungled forensics testimony.

Birch's attorneys on Monday declined to comment on Friday's judgment. 

Attorneys for Shortt's estate did not respond to inquiries for comment on Monday.

Birch is represented by David A. Lebowitz, Douglas E. Lieb and Alyssa Isidoridy of Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP.

Jordan and Shortt's estate are represented by Elliot B. Spector, Jeffrey O. McDonald and Forrest Noirot of Hassett & George PC.

The case is Birch v. New Milford et al., case number 3:20-cv-01790, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

--Editing by Karin Roberts.